• UN inquiry could have been avoided if handled 'pragmatically' says Sri Lanka's new FM

    Jan 24
    Sri Lanka's new foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, said that the UN inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka could have been avoided if the issue had been handled "carefully and pragmatically" by the previous government.

    "This whole investigation was brought upon the country by the bungling of the previous government. If we had handled it carefully and pragmatically, it could have been avoided,” Mr Samaraweera said.

    Asked if the team of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) conducting the inquiry had requested a meeting with the new government, Mr Samaraweera said: "Not so far but we have requested the President’s senior adviser, Mr [Jayantha] Dhanapala, to meet the UN Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva to discuss matters pertaining to this inquiry."

  • Sri Lankan military re-erects 'Army Cantonment' sign on Tamil land
    The Sri Lankan military re-erected a sign, at the entrance of the Valikamam North High Security Zone, reading ‘Army Cantonment,' last week.
  • We didn’t really ask for help but India in mood to help Sri Lanka' says foreign minister
    Sri Lanka's new foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, said Sri Lanka "didn't really ask for help but India is in a mood to help Sri Lanka", following his visit to India to meet with this counterpart in New Delhi and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.

    Speaking to Sri Lanka's Sunday Times, Mr Samaraweera compared Sri Lanka with Myanmar's recent development: “I think, frankly, not only India but the whole world should help Sri Lanka. This is Sri Lanka’s Burma moment.”

    Denying that there was any discussion of demilitarisation and any pressure from India to implement the 13th amendment to the constitution which includes devolution of power to the provinces, Mr Samaraweera said that he had spoken about it "before he [Modi] had even mentioned it".

    “What we told them, which they also agreed with, is we will take practical measures in the first 100 days,” he said. “Then, once this new system is in place, especially after the general election after April, sometime in June, we will certainly look at the full implementation of the 13th Amendment.”

  • Sri Lanka's new president receives blessings at sacred Buddhist site

    Sri Lanka's new president, Maithripala Sirisena,     received blessings from Buddhist monks and performed religious rites at the Sri Maha Bodhiya tree.

    He also participated in religious ceremonies at a historical Sinhala Buddhist site in Polonnaruwa, his home town, thanking locals for voting him in as the new president.

  • Hunger strikers told commission will review Chunnakam oil leak on Feb 6
    Hunger strike continues - 24 Jan 2015


    Locals protesting against the contamination of water supplies by waste oil seepage by Chunnakam power station, paused their ongoing hunger strike on Saturday, after officials said a commission would investigate the situation on February 6.


  • Tamil man assaulted by Sri Lankan army in Valvettithurai


    A Tamil man in Valvettithurai reports being assaulted by Sri Lankan military personnel when he went to an army camp asking for his ball to be returned to him.

    The victim, 29 year old father of three children, Selvaraja Jegan said the ball went into the military base, as he had been playing with friends at a sports ground in the Ellangulam region of Valvettithurai.

    When he went there to ask for the ball to be returned, he was taken away and beaten by soldiers, he said.

  • Swiss asylum applications from Sri Lanka soar in 2014

    The number of asylum applications in Switzerland by individuals from Sri Lanka has increased by 87% in 2014, compared to the previous year.

  • Catholic priests call for release of prisoners, accountability and resettlement
    The Commission for Justice & Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna has called for the release of political prisoners, accountability for those killed or disappeared during the war and for the resettlement of people back in their land, in an open letter to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.

    Writing to the newly elected president, the priests called for the urgent needs of the people of the North-East to be addressed as part of his “100 day programme”.

    Citing three major concerns, the priests called for the “release of thousands of political prisoners who are languishing in the jails and detention centres” without charge. “Some of these people have been there for 10 to 15 years,” said the priests.

  • EU announces €14 million funds for housing construction in North-East
    The European Union has initiated a €14 million programme for an ‘incremental’ housing project to resettle people displaced in the North East, reports the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence website.

    The scheme is intended to aid the construction of 3,000 incremental owner driven houses and improve the local construction supply chain.

    The decision was announced by the EU manager of the Infrastructure and Reconstruction programme of the delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Jaime Royo-Olid during a meeting with the Sri Lankan Minister of resettlement, Reconstruction and Hindu Religious Affairs, DM Swaminathan, on Saturday.

  • Sri Lanka's disappearances commission requests meeting with new president
    The chairman of the disappearances commission set up by the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has requested a meeting with the new president, Maithripala Sirisena, in order to discuss the future of the commission, reports Colombo Page.

    The commission, which was set up on August 15 2003, was extended by Mr Rajapaksa for a six month period, which is due to end on February 15.

    The inquiry, which has been severely critiqued by domestic and international NGOs and civil society actors over its lack of independence and witness protection, amongst other aspects, is currently holding public sittings in the North-East.

  • Gota safe from war crimes probe in Sri Lanka says dep justice minister
    Sri Lanka's deputy minister for justice reiterated that the former defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa would be safe from any war crimes inquiry if he stayed within Sri Lanka.
  • Sri Lanka seeks postponement of EU fish import ban

    Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera will travel to Brussels on Monday, to seek postponement of the ban on imports of Sri Lankan fisheries products into the European Union.

    “We will try to see if we can get a postponement of this ban for at least for six months till we rectify whatever was not correct at ground level,” the Mr Samaraweera told The Sunday Times.

    The new government presented a bill in parliament last Tuesday, to amend the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act to comply with measures to get the ban.

  • Sri Lanka's new government and the possibility of justice
     
     


    Sri Lanka’s new president, Maithripala Sirisena, has promised to break from the Rajapaksa regime's rule with a 100 day plan of widely welcomed reforms that will ensure good governance, rule of law and judicial independence. However the new government is yet to address the country’s most significant issue in Sri Lanka – that of accountability and justice for wartime mass atrocities in which tens of thousands of Tamils died in the cataclysmic end of the war, and the rights abuses during and after the war.
     
  • Sri Lanka reconsiders cancellation of Chinese Port City project

    Sri Lanka's new government said it would reconsider its decision to cancel a Chinese construction project on Thursday, stating that it may now "renegotiate" the deal with Chinese officials.

    "We can renegotiate with China after reassessing the deal," Sri Lanka's Cabinet spokesperson Rajitha Senarathne was quoted as saying by Reuters.

    "We need to see the feasibility study. We need to see the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and reassess the tax concessions given to it and land ownership issues," he reportedly added.

    The $1.5 billion development project with a Chinese company was agreed during the former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa's term in office, however it appeared under threat following the recent election, after the new president, Maithripala Sirisena and prime minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, said they would cancel the deal if elected.

  • US provided LTTE with weapons, claims Maithri ally

    The leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has claimed that western countries, particularly the US, supported and armed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), The Island reported.

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