News vom 10.11.2005

[srilanka1998]

Sri Lanka ruling party election manifesto meaningless: opposition
[ Xinhua ] [ 00:54 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

Sri Lanka's main opposition party said Wednesday that ruling party's election manifesto for the Nov. 17 presidential poll has been rendered meaningless by the government budget. Bandula Gunawardena, the economic spokesman for the United National Party (UNP), told reporters here that the government budget for 2006 presented in parliament on Tuesday did not include any of the pledges made by the ruling party's candidate, the incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. "The manifesto has proved to be a joke. None of the prime minister's promises are seen on it," Gunawardena said. Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama presented the government budget by outlining increased benefits for farmers, public servants and pensioners while raising taxes for companies.


Brussels Rally Assert Tamil Rights, Affirm Solidarity [ TamilCanadian ] [ 03:17 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

No Sinhala leadership has put forward any concrete proposals for the resolution of the ethnic conflict. And no clear campaign has been launched in the south by any Sinhala leader for a consensus approach to this national problem. Such inaction by the Sinhala leadership affirms our suspicion that they do not want a peaceful solution to the drawn out warfare. Further more, no real pressure was brought to bear on the Sri Lankan government or its political leaders, who breach all democratic principles and norms that the western world so earnestly practice. But greater pressure is being exerted on our Tamil Nation which struggles for the just cause of self determination! Unhelpful pressure it is, to which we ought not bow.

 

[srilanka1998]

Sri Lanka Tamils Not Obliged to Vote for President, Rebels Say
[ Bloomberg ] [ 11:42 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels won't urge locals in the north and east provinces of the island to vote in next week's polls to elect the next president. The Tamil National Alliance, a political party that is a proxy for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTA, held a meeting today with S.P. Thamilchelvan, the rebels' political chief, to decide which candidate to back at the Nov. 17 election. ``The Tamil people have no obligation to back any candidate at the election,'' Maavai Senathirajah, secretary-general of the Tamil National Alliance, said by telephone after the meeting in Kilinochchi in the rebel-held northern part of the island. ``The Tamil people are very disappointed with the manifestos and past experiences of the two main candidates,'' said Senathirajah.


Indo-Lankan naval exercises to prevent infiltration
[ UNI ] [ 11:50 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

Indian and Sri Lankan Navies have launched coordinated patrolling along the Palk Bay as an experiment to ensure that fishermen of the two countries do not cross territorial waters. Announcing this at a press conference here today, Vice-Admiral Suresh Mehta, Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, said this arrangement was aimed at preventing infiltration and ensuring that fishermen of both countries remained in their respective territorial waters while fishing. The pilot experimental project, which had been operating for the last two months, was launched after increasing reports of Indian fishermen crossing into Sri Lankan waters for fishing near Katchativu island and coming under attack by the Sri Lankan Navy, he said.


American woman claims she was assaulted in hotel room
[ Daily Mirror ] [ 12:05 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]


A 42-year-old American woman has complained to the Colpetty police that she had been assaulted by an intruder who had under false pretext gained entry to her room at a leading Colombo hotel. The tourist, who had been holidaying at the popular city hotel, has complained that on October 26 morning at around 7.50 the intruder, who gained entrance to her room, claiming that he was a hotel employee and was going to attend to a problem in the bathroom, had assaulted her and thrown her on the floor. He had then tried to choke and molest her. She said she grappled with the assailant before she was able to chase him away. After she called for help the hotel staff had called the police. The woman said that she was treated in hospital as she had sustained bruises on the head, stomach and neck. She described the intruder as a man of Indian origin, with long hair and standing between 5 and 6 feet in height.


S.Lanka Tamils shun poll, may hurt ex-PM's chances
[ Reuters ] [ 12:40 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

Tamil politicians allied to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers vowed on Thursday to remain neutral in the island's upcoming presidential poll, a move analysts said could hurt the chances of main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a coalition of minority Tamil parties, had been expected to endorse Wickremesinghe at a Nov. 17 election because he is less hardline than rival candidate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. But after meeting the rebels in their northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, the TNA echoed a Tiger refrain saying they do not trust either candidate -- which analysts said could influence voters in and around rebel areas to abstain from voting.


Tamil lawmakers meet rebels to discuss stand on Sri Lanka's presidential election
[ AP ] [ 12:42 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

Minority ethnic Tamil lawmakers met with the Tamil Tiger rebels' top political leader on Thursday to discuss their stand on Sri Lanka's presidential election next week, the rebels said. Twenty lawmakers of the Tamil National Alliance met Tamil Tiger leader S.P. Thamilselvan in the rebels' northern stronghold of Kilinochchi, said Tiger spokesman Daya Master. The Tigers' influence on Tamil voters could be crucial in deciding the outcome of the Nov. 17 election. A senior rebel leader said last week that Tamils would not be interested in the election because, he claimed, both main candidates are bent on destroying their rights. However, the rebels have not openly called for a boycott of the poll.


Corruption and aid
[ Reuters ] [ 14:05 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

The highest profile case involves accusations Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse misappropriated nearly $819,000, which he denies. The inquiry is on hold pending the Nov. 17 presidential election in which Rajapakse is a candidate. Sri Lanka's auditor general said in his report in September that officials had misappropriated or misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars ' in one case $724,170 was paid to thousands of families not affected by the tsunami. Commercial interests can also exploit a disaster to acquire land at the expense of poor owners who are relocated. This is a fear among some tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka and Thailand who had been living on coastal areas with tourism potential.


International Religious Freedom Report 2005 on Sri Lanka
[ U.S. Department of State ] [ 14:49 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

The Constitution accords Buddhism the "foremost place," but Buddhism is not recognized as the state religion. The Constitution also provides for the right of members of other faiths to practice their religion freely. While the Government publicly endorses this right, in practice there were problems in some areas.The Constitution gives Buddhism a "foremost position," but it also provides for the right of members of other faiths to practice their religions freely. There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the United States.


US to fund election monitoring in Sri Lanka - Embassy
[ AFX ] [ 15:04 GMT, Nov. 10, 2005 ]

The United States is to fund two private election monitoring outfits in Sri Lanka in a bid to ensure that next week's presidential vote is free and fair, the US embassy said. The two organizations have been appointed to 'monitor and report on the 2005 presidential election and to help ensure a free and fair poll on November 17,' it said in a statement. The US will fund operations of the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections and the Center for Monitoring Election Violence for a total of around 130,000 usd, an official source said. The two organizations were given a total of just over 100,000 usd by the Japanese government earlier this month to boost their activities ahead of the vote.