srilanka1998
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- 26. Juli 2005
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Shadow hangs over Sri Lanka tourism
[ BBC ] [ 02:49 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's government is due to hold talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels in Geneva next week. The aim is to revive the island's peace process, which was all but destroyed by a series of killings in recent months. The threat of a return to war has led to uncertainty in Sri Lanka's tourism industry. "Each year we are expecting a lot of tourists then something happens. Unfortunately we had a tsunami so last year was washed out. Now this killing is starting again and people are afraid to come to Sri Lanka,". Seenivasagham Kaliselvam, the director-general of the Sri Lankan Tourist Board, says: "Peace is paramount if we have to get tourists to this country. "As far as tourists are concerned they have various destinations they can choose for their holiday. No tourist will come to a country where violence is taking place. "So we are very certain we have got to have peace in the country to go forward in tourism." There has been a lull in the killing since January when the government and the Tiger rebels agreed to meet for talks in Geneva in Switzerland on 22 and 23 February.
Swiss Tamils look to preserve their culture
[ Swiaa Info ] [ 11:32 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
Tamils first came to Switzerland in the 1980s as refugees fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka and now make up a sizeable community in the country. Although they encountered prejudices at first, Tamils are now regarded as having adapted well to their new home. But they are still not fully integrated.An estimated 35,000 Tamils now live in Switzerland, of which ten per cent are naturalised Swiss. The ex-pat community is now one of the largest after those in Canada, Germany and Britain. However, the arrival of Tamils in the mid-1980s was not without consequences. The authorities were forced to set up a special refugee authority in 1986 to cope with the unprecedented deluge of Tamil asylum seekers. Prejudice and xenophobia were also commonplace. "The reception was very harsh, very aggressive, and for us it was also the first time we had been to Europe and experienced the cold snow," said Anton Ponrajah, the head of the Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations.
LTTE releases second Sri Lankan policeman as goodwill gesture prior to Geneva talks
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 12:11 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
After three years of stalled peace talks, the upcoming Geneva talks will be held on 22-23 February. As a gesture of goodwill, the national leader ordered the release of a Sri Lankan policeman, W G D S Hemantha. He was released under the order of the Kilinochchi District Court Magistrate and handed over to SLMM officials in Kilinochchi District Court on Saturday. Three policemen were arrested inside the LTTE administered area on 10 September 2005 under the charge of not obtaining permission prior to entering the area. The first policeman, K A D Sarath, was released in the same way on 26 January.
Genocide of Tamils continues, with negotiations
[ TCHR ] [ 17:45 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
When the British gave independence to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1948, the power was handed over to the numerical majority the Singhalese. The British never considered the fact that unlike the other Colonial powers, the Portuguese and Dutch, in 1883 they amalgamated the Tamil Kingdom with other Singhalese Kingdoms for easy administrative purposes in the island. This is the history. Then Tamil leaders thought that the Singhalese would treat the Tamil people as equals in the Island. Unfortunately soon after independence, they were proved wrong. The Singhalese in power started adopting racist discriminatory policies against the Tamils on Citizenship, voting rights, language and education. In the meantime, anti-Tamil riots and government sponsored Singhalese colonisation in the NorthEast also became the root cause of the Ethnic conflict. By 1983, it had become clear that agitation in the Sri Lankan parliament by Tamil parliamentarians and the non violent ahimsa struggle carried out for 35 years by the Tamils, had brought nothing other than loss of lives and properties, eventually ending in twenty years of conflict.
[ BBC ] [ 02:49 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's government is due to hold talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels in Geneva next week. The aim is to revive the island's peace process, which was all but destroyed by a series of killings in recent months. The threat of a return to war has led to uncertainty in Sri Lanka's tourism industry. "Each year we are expecting a lot of tourists then something happens. Unfortunately we had a tsunami so last year was washed out. Now this killing is starting again and people are afraid to come to Sri Lanka,". Seenivasagham Kaliselvam, the director-general of the Sri Lankan Tourist Board, says: "Peace is paramount if we have to get tourists to this country. "As far as tourists are concerned they have various destinations they can choose for their holiday. No tourist will come to a country where violence is taking place. "So we are very certain we have got to have peace in the country to go forward in tourism." There has been a lull in the killing since January when the government and the Tiger rebels agreed to meet for talks in Geneva in Switzerland on 22 and 23 February.
Swiss Tamils look to preserve their culture
[ Swiaa Info ] [ 11:32 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
Tamils first came to Switzerland in the 1980s as refugees fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka and now make up a sizeable community in the country. Although they encountered prejudices at first, Tamils are now regarded as having adapted well to their new home. But they are still not fully integrated.An estimated 35,000 Tamils now live in Switzerland, of which ten per cent are naturalised Swiss. The ex-pat community is now one of the largest after those in Canada, Germany and Britain. However, the arrival of Tamils in the mid-1980s was not without consequences. The authorities were forced to set up a special refugee authority in 1986 to cope with the unprecedented deluge of Tamil asylum seekers. Prejudice and xenophobia were also commonplace. "The reception was very harsh, very aggressive, and for us it was also the first time we had been to Europe and experienced the cold snow," said Anton Ponrajah, the head of the Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations.
LTTE releases second Sri Lankan policeman as goodwill gesture prior to Geneva talks
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 12:11 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
After three years of stalled peace talks, the upcoming Geneva talks will be held on 22-23 February. As a gesture of goodwill, the national leader ordered the release of a Sri Lankan policeman, W G D S Hemantha. He was released under the order of the Kilinochchi District Court Magistrate and handed over to SLMM officials in Kilinochchi District Court on Saturday. Three policemen were arrested inside the LTTE administered area on 10 September 2005 under the charge of not obtaining permission prior to entering the area. The first policeman, K A D Sarath, was released in the same way on 26 January.
Genocide of Tamils continues, with negotiations
[ TCHR ] [ 17:45 GMT, Feb. 18, 2006 ]
When the British gave independence to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1948, the power was handed over to the numerical majority the Singhalese. The British never considered the fact that unlike the other Colonial powers, the Portuguese and Dutch, in 1883 they amalgamated the Tamil Kingdom with other Singhalese Kingdoms for easy administrative purposes in the island. This is the history. Then Tamil leaders thought that the Singhalese would treat the Tamil people as equals in the Island. Unfortunately soon after independence, they were proved wrong. The Singhalese in power started adopting racist discriminatory policies against the Tamils on Citizenship, voting rights, language and education. In the meantime, anti-Tamil riots and government sponsored Singhalese colonisation in the NorthEast also became the root cause of the Ethnic conflict. By 1983, it had become clear that agitation in the Sri Lankan parliament by Tamil parliamentarians and the non violent ahimsa struggle carried out for 35 years by the Tamils, had brought nothing other than loss of lives and properties, eventually ending in twenty years of conflict.