During a session in Brussels, Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Helga Schmid met with Sri Lanka’s Ambassador for the EU, Grace Asirwatham, and noted that trade relations between Sri Lanka and the EU had witnessed significant growth in recent years.

The EU is the largest export market for Sri Lankan goods accounting for nearly 30% or 2.8 million euros. 

<p>Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) presidential candidate said he will rehabilitate more than 250 former LTTE cadres, who are still being held in custody and reintegrate them into society.</p> <p>“There had been around 5,000 Tamil youth at camps even before 2005. By 2015, we rehabilitated all of them except for 274 individuals. They too will be rehabilitated,” Gotabaya told the crowd at a rally in Vavuniya.</p> <p>At his manifesto launch earlier this month, Gotabaya claimed that his government had taken steps “to pardon, rehabilitate and release 13,784 Tiger members who surrendered with arms.”</p>

The Sri Lankan army has reportedly set up a sham archaeological museum inside its camp opposite the Neeraviyadi Pillaiyar temple and are claiming the artefacts were from the area and belonged to the disputed Buddhist vihara built next to the temple.

The Hindu temple’s administration accused the army of disrespecting the Mullaitivu court which has placed an injunction on the expansion or development of either place of worship, pending further hearings.

<p>Ramkarpal Singh, MP for Bukit Gelugor, said there is no need to keep those detained for suspected “LTTE links” under the Security Offences Special Measures Act 2012 (SOSMA) as the investigation has concluded, Malaysiakini reported.</p> <p>Singh noted&nbsp; that investigation papers have been submitted to the Attorney General, therefore, “there is no need for the detainees to be further detained, although they have been remanded for a period of 28 days under SOSMA,” he said.</p> <p>He also urged that the detainees should be granted bail if they are charged. Singh also reiterated his call for SOSMA to be repealed.</p>

 

Nigeria’s army has a sent a delegation of six members, to receive five days of training from the Sri Lankan armed forces in Maduru Oya.

Major General G Oyefesobi, the director of the Nigerian Army, led the delegation and spoke with Sri Lanka’s Army Commander, Shavendra Silva.

According to a press release from the army, the delegation has stated they are considering “sending more troops to Sri Lanka for Special Forces training in [the] future”.

A former Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member has accused the Sri Lankan government of duplicity over its claims that Tamils are allowed to freely commemorate their dead, after he was questioned by Sri Lankan counter-terrorism police over his involvement in genocide memorial activities.

Former NPC member A Puvaneswaran was summoned to Colombo and questioned for three and half hours on October 24. Before his appointment Puvaneswaran was told nothing about the subject of the inquiry.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, Manuela Goretti, has urged Sri Lanka to exercise prudence and fiscal discipline in the lead up to Sri Lanka’s presidential election as well as structural reforms.

During an interview Manuela Goretti told reporters;

“Our advice remains prudent policies along with fiscal discipline and vigilant monetary policy to shore up market confidence. It is important to strengthen Sri Lanka’s resilience to internal and external shocks, given the country’s remaining vulnerabilities”

Residents of Vavuniya were alarmed by an unexpected patrol by Special Task Force troops around the town while Deepavali celebrations were ongoing on Sunday.

In some places the troops stopped their patrol bikes and questioned residents.

Residents said patrols and search operations were happening more and more frequently in the district, with ad-hoc check points set up where they had previously been dismantled.

The US Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asia in the State Department told the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week that the appointment of Shavendra Silva to the head of Sri Lanka’s army had “deeply concerned” Washington.

“We are deeply concerned by the appointment of Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva as Army Commander and the negative message the appointment sends for Sri Lanka’s purported commitment to post-war accountability,” Alice Wells told the committee.

Wells, who is the top US diplomat for South Asia, went on to add,

Tamil demonstrators staged a protest in Jaffna today, as former Sri Lankan defence secretary and front running presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited the city and met with a notorious paramilitary leader.