Sri Lanka’s prime minister told his parliament that Colombo faces its highest ever loan installment payment next week, as debts for the government continue to climb.

Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that a payment of US$ 2.6 billion is due on Monday, despite the government’s foreign reserves coming down to US$ 6.9 billion.

Colombo will be paying back close to US$ 5.9 billion in interest and principal payment for debt servicing alone throughout this year, reports Lanka Business Online.

See more from LBO here.

Regime change in Sri Lanka has made “no difference in delivering justice and reparation to the victims of war crimes and genocide” said a group of Tamil diaspora organisations this week, in a call for an establishment of an international criminal tribunal.

“Yet another New Year dawns almost 10 years since the worst of the genocidal onslaught against the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state with no sign of the victims receiving justice in the near future,” said the United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC), British Tamils Forum (BTF) and Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) in a statement.

The head of Sri Lanka’s notorious 58 Division, an army unit that committed grave violations of international law during a military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils, has been named as the army’s new Chief of Staff.

Shavendra Silva assumed office this week after a controversial appointment to second-in-command of the army, a move that has sparked widespread condemnation. 

He marked taking up his post by giving offerings to Buddhist monks.

<p>Two former LTTE cadres were sentenced to imprisonment for shooting down a Sri Lankan air force aircraft in the year 2000.</p> <p>The North Central Provincial High Court judge handed out a sentence totalling 185 years each, with parole after 5 years ‘rigorous’ imprisonment, for the two former cadres, 41-year-old Rajathurai Jegan and 43-year-old Nallan Sivalingam.</p> <p>Jegan and Sivalingam allegedly fired a missile at a Sri Lankan air force Antonov-32 aircraft over Anuradhapura, downing the plane and killing all 37 people onboard, including Sri Lankan air force personnel, navy personnel, police officers and the Russian pilot.</p>

<p>A Tamil political prisoner in Anuradhapura prison has been hunger striking for his release since last week, causing a serious deterioration in his health.</p> <p>32-year-old Sivapragasam Sivaseelan has been in detention for almost 10 years after being arrested by the Sri Lankan army on May 17, 2009.</p> <p>A case against him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was only filed three years later in 2012.</p> <p>Due to repeated court delays, Sivaseelan’s case has not progressed almost six years later.</p>

Sri Lanka’s president praised the “experience and leadership” of Shavendra Silva, the military’s latest chief of staff and commander who led an army unit accused of committing grave crimes against humanity, in an offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils.

“It is my pleasure to congratulate Major General Shavendra Silva on his appointment as Chief of Staff,” said Maithripala Sirisena, as Silva took up the promotion this week.

Sri Lanka's state minister of defence, Ruwan Wijewardene yesterday denied the numerous credible reports of the military's use of cluster bombs and chemical weapons against Tamils during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009, and rejected the need for an international investigation into the matter. 

“We are capable of conducting our own probe into allegations such as these, but there is no such need,” Wijewardene told parliament. 

<p>The Sri Lankan army’s new chief of staff&nbsp; risks arrests “every time he travels abroad” warned the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), in a press release that called for him to be indicted for crimes against humanity.</p> <p>Major General Shavendra Silva, who oversaw the Sri Lankan army’s 58 Division in 2009 and the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils, sparked outrage after he was appointed as the military’s new chief of staff.</p>

The killing of eleven Tamils by Sri Lankan police officers at the 1974 World Tamil Research Conference in Jaffna was remembered today. 

Residents and former members of the Northern Provincial Council gathered 45 years on by the memorial in Jaffna town, erected in memory of the victims of the massacre. 

Residents in Alampil, Mullaitivu protested today against the Sri Lankan army's attempt to survey land in the area, including land on which the Alampil Thuyilum Illam (LTTE cemetery) is sited. 

Though the Sri Lankan military is already illegally occupying the area, land owners fear the survey will lead to the formal transfer of the land to the military.