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PA-JVP pact is a serious blow to peace – LTTE

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) declared Monday that the formation of a probationary government with an alliance between the People's Alliance (PA) regime and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) effected a serious blow to the peace process in Sri Lanka. more

UN calls for protection of children in war

In a just issued report to the United Nations Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommends that the international community take concrete steps to protect children in war-affected areas, said the U.N. website on Friday. "In the armed conflicts of recent years, children have featured centrally as targets of violence, and occasionally - even unwillingly - as perpetrators," the Secretary-General writes. "A large number of children have been directly affected by armed conflict, many of them uprooted from their homes and communities, maimed, or killed. Others have been made orphans, abducted, abused and exploited." more

EU agrees apology for slavery

The European Union agreed Friday to a carefully worded apology for slavery, perhaps resolving one of two key issues deadlocking the UN conference against racism, the International Herald Tribune reported. more

World Bank says Indian boats exploit fishing ban

The World Bank Monday expressed concern that trawlers from neighbouring India were poaching in Sri Lanka's embattled northern waters while the island's own people were denied fishing rights by the Sri Lankan government. more

Economy uncertain amid Marxists’ demands

Mixed signals over the economic implications of the alliance between Sri Lanka's ruling People's Alliance and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) continued as Kumaratunga's government maintained that the union would have no impact on the planned privatisations and current discussions with the International Monetary Fund, said press reports last week. more

Sri Lanka mulls bond issue amid loan difficulties

Following the failure to reach an agreement on the terms of a loan facility between the government of Sri Lanka and global lending banks, Colombo has decided to attempt to fulfil its funding needs by issuing a dollar bond to local banks and expatriate citizens. The success of Sri Lanka's inaugural dollar denominated bond issue hinges on the government offering adequate returns to reflect the added risks that have recently shrouded the island-nation, primary dealers said, reported Dow Jones, Friday. more

India, Japan come to Sri Lanka’s aid

The Indian government has granted Sri Lanka a credit line of 100 million U.S. dollars which will be disbursed over a period of three years and allow the import of a large range of goods and services from India, according to the Bank of Ceylon, press reports said last week. more

Colombo cancels Deutsche loan

Sri Lanka has cancelled a deal to raise a 200 million-dollar loan syndicated by Deutsche Bank because the terms were unfavourable, the AFP reported last week quoting government officials. The government cancelled the loan deal and was now looking at several other options to raise much needed foreign currency, said Mano Tittawela, director general of the country's privatisation agency. more

Calls for international aid amidst water crisis

The European Commission funded Dry Zone Agricultural Development Project (DZADP) of CARE in Sri Lanka has started to distribute 50 water tanks of 1000 I each in drought affected communities in the southern Hambantota District, the Island newspaper reported on Thursday. more

Sri Lanka seeks F-16s from Pakistan

Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga is likely to ask Pakistan's President Musharraf for military planes, including US-built F-16 fighter bombers, helicopters and other military equipment "to meet [Sri Lanka's] urgent defence needs", when she meets Pakistani President General Musharraf during the UN General Assembly session, press reports said last week. more

PA - JVP pact shelves Norwegian peace initiative

THE STALLED Norwegian peace initiative suffered another serious setback last week following a crucial deal between the minority People's Alliance government and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) in which the latter insisted that Oslo's role be terminated amongst other demands in return for parliamentary support. more

Tamils, Muslims slam deal as ‘foolish’

TAMIL and Muslim parliamentary parties in Sri Lanka criticised the government for blocking the Norwegian peace initiative by forming a year long pact with the Marxist Janaka Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) that is opposed to Oslo's mediation and any form of power sharing with the island's minorities. The leaders of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said that the People's Alliance (PA) - JVP agreement would prevent a resolution to the most important issue facing the country as a whole, according to press reports last week. more

Opposition awaits defections, holds vote

SRI LANKA'S main opposition United National Party (UNP) last week postponed a no confidence motion against the ruling People's Alliance (PA) of President Chandrika Kumaratunga after the minority government secured the support of the Janaka Vimukthi Perumana while it waited for defections from the ruling party. more

No election for two years promises Kumaratunga

SRI LANKA'S President Chandrika Kumaratunge said that there wouldn't be any general election this year or next year, TamilNet reported last week. "Government officials should not think about a change of government in the near future. They must be prepared to implement all development projects already finalized in their areas," Kumaratunge told a group of government officials working in the North-Central Province. more

Marxists’ policies dominate ‘probationary’ government

THE MEMORANDUM of Understanding signed by the Sri Lankan government with the Marxist Janaka Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) last week set out the conditions under which the minority PA administration secured itself against a possible no confidence motion, until the agreement expires on September 5 next year. more

Children bear brunt of drought amid Vanni embargo

The shortage of drinking water caused by the drought that has hit Sri Lanka's west coast from Pooneryn to Mannar has compounded the problems caused by the lack of a health infrastructure, with dozens of infants falling ill, local health workers told TamilNet last week. more

Tigers say recruitment rising

The Liberation Tigers' Batticaloa and Amparai district political leader, Mr. Karikalan, said this week that his organisation was drawing large numbers of new volunteers and denied press reports of forcible recruitment. In an interview with Tamil language Uthayan newspaper published Tuesday, Mr. Karikalan said many recruits were coming forward with the support and encouragement of their parents amid active participation from many villages in the LTTE's recruitment drive. "There is a firm belief amongst the people that the struggle will succeed. This has given us a fresh impetus." more

Tamil MPs slam paramilitary group’s ‘profiteering’

Tamil MPs in Jaffna last week charged the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), a key Parliamentary ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga of profiteering at the expense of the people, and called on Jaffna's youth to shun the EPDP's activities in the northern town. more

Remembrance University refugee camp ‘disappeared’

Memorial functions were held last Wednesday in Vantharumoolai and Valaichenai to mark the 11th anniversary of disappearance of 158 Tamils who were arrested by the Sri Lanka security forces from the Eastern University refugee camp on September 5, 1990, TamilNet reported. Posters condemning the security forces for the murdering the refugees were seen in several parts of these towns. more

Indonesian President extends apology to Aceh

Indonesia's president apologized Saturday for the government's past mistakes in restive Aceh province, and she urged residents to welcome new laws granting the region its own legal system and a greater share of oil income, the Associated Press reported. But representatives of the main Acehnese independence group said they would not meet her. more

Independence fighters win East Timor elections

Fretilin, which spearheaded East Timor's fight for independence from Indonesia, has won the territory's first democratic election, the United Nations said on Thursday. But it fell short of the two-thirds majority in the new constituent assembly needed to unilaterally draft East Timor's first democratic constitution and may be forced into an alliance with minor parties reported Reuters. more

Serb gangs emerge amid Macedonia truce

The police chief in Macedonia's main ethnic Albanian city predicted new clashes Saturday unless authorities can rein in Macedonian paramilitary gangs that may have been joined by militias from neighbouring Serbia, reported the Associated Press. Saip Bilali's report of a Serb presence has not been independently confirmed. But if true, it would add another worrisome element threatening the fragile calm as Macedonia marked the 10th anniversary of its independence from Yugoslavia. more

Colombian death squads enter politics

Colombia's right-wing death squads, blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the country's 37-year old war, said last Wednesday they were forming a nationwide political movement. In a 10-page document posted on their Web site, the outlawed United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) -- a brutal vigilante army that targets leftist guerrillas and suspected collaborators -- said the time was right to meld their military offensive with social and political activity reported Reuters. more

Jayalalitha case shifted to new judge

In YET another blow to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha's hopes of getting elected to the Assembly before the November 13 deadline, the Supreme Court Friday transferred her appeals against conviction in three cases to another judge of the Madras High Court and ordered that the hearing afresh on these appeals would not begin before October 1 reported the Press Trust of India. more

No compromise on Chechnya

Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out compromise with Chechens on Friday, squashing a peace initiative by a top liberal politician, who responded by accusing the president of "nervous over-excitement" reported Reuters. Putin, reacting sharply to a call by former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov for talks with the Chechen leadership, said "odious bandits, up to their elbows in the Russian people's blood" must give up arms and surrender first. more