Lanka Prez poll: Personality may tilt the balance
[ Hindustan Times ] [ 10:41 GMT, Sep. 26, 2005 ]
According the Sinhalas, who are the majority community in Sri Lanka, there is little to choose between the two main candidates in the Sri Lankan Presidential election in terms of policies, but they believe that differences in personality may tilt the balance. The two main candidates are Mahinda Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP). The SLFP is expected to fight as Peoples' Alliance (PA) and the UNP as United National Front (UNF). Said Leslie Dharmaratne, a Sinhala middle class public servant in Kandy: "Neither Mahinda nor Ranil wants war. Both want to settle the problem through discussions with the LTTE.
Sri Lanka officials misappropriate tsunami aid -auditor
[ Reuters ] [ 10:42 GMT, Sep. 26, 2005 ]
Sri Lankan government officials misspent or misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tsunami aid after failing to follow instructions, the island's auditor general said on Monday. Officials gave millions of rupees in tsunami assistance to thousands of families who were not directly affected by the Indian Ocean island's worst natural disaster in memory. There were others displaced by the tsunami who did not get the rations they were entitled to. Auditor General S.C. Mayadunne put the misappropriation down to confusion stemming from multiple instructions issued by different government departments.
Top Norwegian envoy to visit Sri Lanka in October
[ AP ] [ 10:43 GMT, Sep. 26, 2005 ]
A retired Norwegian military general will likely visit Sri Lanka next month to review an Oslo-brokered cease-fire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, an embassy spokeswoman said Monday. Trond Furuhovde's tentative arrival date is Oct. 10, Norwegian Embassy spokeswoman Kjersti Tromsdal said, but the date must still be confirmed. Furuhovde is the former head of a team of observers monitoring Sri Lanka's cease-fire agreement reached in 2002. The Sri Lankan government and the rebels have agreed to resume direct talks, suspended since 2003, to save the cease-fire, which has been severely tested by a spate of killings that included the Aug. 12 assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister by suspected Tigers. The Tigers deny involvement.
Thileepan the Thiagi(Martyr)
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 12:43 GMT, Sep. 26, 2005 ]
He passed away in full vicw of a hundred thousand or more pairs of tear-filled eyes,Fasting in steadfast defiance of violence of seventy thousand misguided gun-toting guys,Consuming not even water for eleven whole days, not just his rice,Bettering the Ghandian device to recapture human liberty through self-sacrifice. His nation had tried for forty years not once, not twice, not thrice but umpteen times, to entice the oppressors with compromise plans, interim pacts, sensible advice, but all these were freezed like inert ice.Thileepan's was passivism against vice, with arrns withheld as a last resort, as the ultimate face in the political dice. He expired national fire in slow breaths and passed vigour and fierce velocity to Tamil cuhs, once timid and shy as mice, And now lives as the sinew and blood of armies of pouncing tigers pursuing national pridc and peace and a paradise.
President to dissolve Parliament?
[ Daily Mirror ] [ 14:31 GMT, Sep. 26, 2005 ]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga is likely to dissolve Parliament within the next two weeks, political sources said yesterday . It is believed she would call for a general election prior to the Presidential election on November 17. The President as the leader of the SLFP is likely to form her own selection committee within the SLFP to decide on party nominations. It is likely that the SLFP would go for the general election alone. The move is intended to undermine the electoral agreements signed by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa with the JVP and the JHU. Political sources said that close family members had warned the President of a danger of the SLFP being hijacked by the JVP. Members of her family had recalled how her mother, the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike had protected the party for 17 years in the eighties and the early nineties amidst harassment from the UNP.
The Norway grants support to the Peace Secretariat for Muslims
[ Government of Norway ] [ 14:40 GMT, Sep. 26, 2005 ]
The Norwegian government has granted 23,9 million Rupees in support to The Peace Secretariat for Muslims (PSM). The PSM will facilitate dialogue and build consensus among Muslim political parties and interest groups, in order to develop a coordinated position for Muslims as input to the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and in future peace negotiations. The Peace Secretariat for Muslims will also function as a resource centre, and aims to undertake research and develop frameworks for peace building and constitutional questions as well as contribute to capacity building among Muslim representatives in connection to the peace process.
