The US embassy has opened two new hospitals at a cost of over $1 million in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

Deputy Chief of Mission William Weinstein opened the Mulankavil Base Hospital (Kilinochchi) and the Oddusuddan Divisional Hospital ( Mullaitivu) on Tuesday.

“These two civilian hospitals will provide easier access to better and higher quality medical care to the people of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts,” he said, 

A Sri Lankan Army Officer and 4 soldiers have been arrested for stealing gold, desperately hidden in the ground by fleeing civilians during the last stages of the armed conflict in 2009.

See here a comment in the Financial Times on Sri Lanka’s row with the IMF over another loan.

See also our recent post for background:
IMF hesitant to fund Sri Lanka spending (13 Jan 2013)

Full text of joint statement:

The British Tamils Forum, the Canadian Tamil Congress, and United States Tamil Political Action Council acknowledge the Report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which emanates from United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 19/2.

The Sri Lankan government has earmarked $150 million for an investment project in Uganda, in order to provide safe water.

See here.

The pledge follows a visit by the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, last year.

Fiften asylum seekers who were deported from the UK have alleged torture and rape by Sri Lankan security forces on return, reports The Guardian newspaper.

In a Freedom of Information request of Home Office data showed that the 15 who were deported between 2009 and September 2012, had managed to escape once again to Britain where they alleged torture and rape.

On a visit to Jaffna, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has ordered the release of the Jaffna University students who were arrested late last year, for remembering those who had died in the struggle on 27th November.

According to the Government Information Department, Rajapaksa came to this decision after 'having taken into consideration the appeals made by the parents of these students'.

In a statement published on the Commonwealth Secretariat's website yesterday, the organisation refuted Sri Lankan media reports that the Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma had made public statements confirming Sri Lanka as the venue of CHOGM 2013.

Statement is reproduced in full below:

The Sri Lankan government is in the process of introducing new laws that will ban the sale of land to any foreigners, according to Land Development Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, reported the state-run Daily News.

The Minister stated that,

“The new land laws are aimed at safeguarding the land rights of Sri Lankans”. 

The Sinhalese head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has been touted as a possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI by Forbes magazine.