The Sri Lankan government announced on Thursday it would be joinging the Ottawa treaty banning the use and stockpiling of land mines. The move fulfils a pledge made by the government last year amid significant international pressure pushing for reform. "As a full state party, we look forward to taking our place in the promotion of this Convention, including through capacity-building and mine clearance," Sri Lanka's representative at its permanent mission to the UN, Rohan Perera said at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the Ottawa Convention, titled 'A World Free of Landmines'.
The United Nations Committee against Torture has advised the Australian government not to deport a Tamil man to Sri Lanka, as he faces the risk of torture if sent back to the island. An interim measure formally requesting Australia to stay the deportation order whilst his case was being heard was issued by the committee, over fears regarding his safety. The asylum seeker – referred to by the Guardian as ‘Jyran’ – has aan arrest warrant in Sri Lanka for “assisting anti-government activities and supporting and assisting a terrorist organisation”. His lawyer Alison Battisson told the committee...
Sri Lankan troops deployed in Jaffna will be receiving new perks and incentives, the army announced last month, continuing to ignore the ongoing calls to demilitarise the Tamil homeland.
Sri Lanka’s president warned that the belief of separatism still exists in Sri Lanka and in international forum, calling on more to be done to tackle it. “Today, we are gathered here because deep down we know that we have a problem in this country,” he told a convention in Colombo this week. “The ethnic and religious conflicts in this country resulted in a 30-year war. The war was ended through a military solution.” “Our Forces were able to defeat a separatist terrorist organisation but we have not managed to defeat the beliefs that led to it,” Mr Sirisena said, adding that “though the idea...
Photograph: Sunday Observer The Sri Lankan government officially handed Hambantota Port to China on a 99-year lease last week, as Colombo continues to struggle to pay off massive debts. The officially handing over is part of a move agreed in July that will see China Merchants Port Holdings Company control a 70 percent stake in the Hambantota port, with the remainder held by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. The deal is valued at approximately US$1.1 billion, with China having made the first payment of $293 million to the Sri Lankan government. The deal will reportedly see loans owed by Sri...
The Sri Lankan cabinet has approved a proposal to hire Sir Hugh Orde, the former President of the Association of Chief Police Officers and Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), in order to advise on reforms to the Sri Lankan police. Law and Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayake put forward the proposals to cabinet this week, having met with Sir Hugh in October with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Colombo Gazette quoted the government as saying Sir Hugh would be used in “restructuring the Police Service to make the Sri Lanka Police...
Poverty and unemployment are higher in the Northern Province than anywhere else in Sri Lanka, the Chief Minister has said. Presenting the data at the Northern Provincial Council's second budget reading on Tuesday, Chief Minister Wigneswaran said that out of all 25 districts on the island, Kilinochchi was the poorest. Mullaitivu, which was previously the poorest district, is now number 2 on the list of poverty by district. Jaffna is the 5th poorest district on the island, the Chief Minister said. The level of unemployment is also higest in the Northern Province than in any other province...
The Sri Lankan government is in discussion with Israel's Aerospace Industries (IAI) over upgrading five grounded Kfir fighter jets. In an interview to Jane's Defence Weekly , a senior IAI official reportedly said, "the company is in talks with the Sri Lankan government to upgrade and return to service its five grounded Kfir fighters." Sri Lanka's armed conflict ended over 8 years ago, in May 2009. Kfir jets were used through out the conflict by the Sri Lankan military to target civilian areas in the North-East.
The former Sri Lankan navy spokesperson Commodore D.K.P. Dassanayake has been further remanded until December 22 over the disappearance of 11 Tamil youths in 2008, Colombo Page reports. Mr Dassanayake was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in July this year. A number of bail applications made have so far been rejected.
The Sri Lankan military declared open a new holiday resort in the Jaffna peninsula last month exclusively for Sri Lankan troops, built on the tens of thousands of acres of land it still occupies in the Northern Province.