In the wake of persistent allegations of high-level corruptions in military procurements, media watchdogs rang alarm bells last week over moves by the Sri Lankan government to ban reporting on defence purchases.

 

Meanwhile, the government forced three journalists, including two Britons, to leave the north of the country, denying them access to areas affected by the war.

 

The Free Media Movement (FMM), local media watchdog said last wee

A Dutch journalist, Jon Bottis, learned a lesson about Sri Lankan policing when he made a complaint about the theft of his personal belongings from his apartment in the holiday town of Hikkaduwa recently. One policeman called him outside the station and asked him whether he needed a woman to have sex with.

British oil companies are to carry out oil explorations in Sri Lanka, press reports quoted the country’s Development and Investment minister, Sarath Amunagama, as saying. The agreement was reached following a series of high-level discussions he held with leading oil companies during a visit to London, the LankaTribune reported.

The Sri Lankan government continued its efforts to deny the Liberation Tigers access to the international community last week by preventing two UN envoys from visiting LTTE –held areas and criticizing an Icelandic diplomat who entered LTTE-controlled territory without Colombo’s permission.

 

Sri Lanka said last Thursday that it would not allow the United Nation's human rights envoy to visit LTTE-held areas, while at the same time the government criticised the ceas

Pointing to the ‘genocidal war’ the Sinhala-dominated state is waging against the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers this week urged the international community to “recognise the sovereignty of the Tamil people, and support the peace process in accordance with this principle.”

 

The world should “provide appropriate opportunities to the Tamil people to express their aspirations, as have been given to the people of East Timor and Kosovo,” the LTTE also said

Tamil parliamentarians pictured last year protesting against the Sri Lankan state’s indiscriminate violence against Tamils in the east.

The United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, cautioned the Colombo government, saying its victories were ‘tactical’ and urged resumption of talks.