Japan is to loan over $3.5 billion to Sri Lanka, the country's finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake said on Thursday.

The loan is aimed at reducing Sri Lanka's debt and preventing a balance of payments crisis.

"We are getting more than $3,500 million from Japan for our development activities," Mr Karunanayake was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The news came as Japan announced a Rs 2.2 billion grant to the government to establish a teaching and research centre at Jaffna university.

Seven years after the armed conflict ended in May 2009 and the height of Tamil genocide by the Sri Lankan state, Tamils this year mark May 18th with the weight of a UN report behind them. Detailing the extent and sheer horror of the atrocities committed, including the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, targeting of hospitals, sexual violence, torture and the extrajudicial killing of LTTE cadres, the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka report validates the visceral outcry of the Tamil nation which blockaded diasporic capitals, deploring the ensuing massacre and demanding international intervention, as well as validating the call for justice that has emanated from the diaspora and the North-East ever since. Seven years on however, meaningful change in the circumstances that led to the armed conflict, and the tangible prospect of true justice continues to elude the Tamil people.
 

Commemorations of the end of the armed conflict on May 18 2009 have begun in the North-East.

An early remembrance event was held by NPC Councillor T Ravikaran at the break of dawn, on the shores of the Nanthikadal Lagoon in the Mullaithivu District.

While Tamils commemorate the massacres of the end of the armed conflict, prominent Sri Lankan politicians from both sides of the Sinhala divide continue to laud the armed forces as “heroes.”

UNP Minister for Housing and Construction Sajith Premadasa’s posted a tweet saying "Remembering our war heroes" this morning.

Updated 05:17 GMT

Tamils gathered at the site of the final battle in Mullivaikkal this morning to commemorate those who died in the end phase of the armed conflict.

Students and staff gathered in their hundreds at the University of Jaffna for the institution's event to mark the 7th anniversary of the end of the armed conflict.

Tamils in Vaaharai, Batticaloa, gathered in remembrance of those who died in the last phase of the armed conflict, as Sri Lankan intelligence officials looked on.

The event, held in Manikkapuram, was organised by the Tamil National People's Front and saw a Hindu priest conduct a poosai.