srilanka1998
Member
- Registriert
- 26. Juli 2005
- Beiträge
- 511
Sri Lanka: war amid the ceasefire?
[ BBC ] [ 00:29 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The government and Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka say that a ceasefire signed in February 2002 is still holding, despite a suicide bombing on Tuesday in the army headquarters in Colombo and subsequent air strikes by the military against rebel positions in the east of the country. Norwegian peace facilitators also insist the truce is still holding. So when is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? Most analysts agree that the suicide bombing bore all the hallmarks of the Tamil Tigers, and this combined with the air strikes has blown a gaping hole in the prospects for peace. Both incidents were not random. They were pre-planned and sanctioned by the leaders of both sides.
Sri Lanka, LTTE may meet in Geneva after all
[ IANS ] [ 10:00 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger guerrillas are emitting 'positive signals' that indicate their twice-postponed meeting in Geneva may finally happen soon. Despite the dramatic escalation in violence that almost shattered the four-year ceasefire, Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are giving feelers to both Norway and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that they are ready to take part in the second round of talks in the Swiss city. But the co-chairs to Sri Lanka's peace process - the US, the European Union, Norway and Japan - however have their fingers crossed because tensions are still running high and recent incidents have only sharpened the ethnic divide.
Sri Lanka reopens roads, airstrikes end, but civil war threat remains
[ AP ] [ 10:04 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka reopened roads linking government and Tamil Tiger rebel-held territory Friday after two days of airstrikes against guerrilla areas ended, but the threat of a return to civil war remained amid continuing bloodshed. The military seized three T-56 automatic rifles in Trincomalee, the hotbed of the current violence, late Thursday from two suspected rebels, said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe. This week's violence, including two days of government airstrikes against rebel positions and a suicide bombing in the capital, posed the most serious threat yet to a 2002 truce between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels seeking a separate state in the north of the country.
Sri Lankan donors bid to save ceasefire
[ AFP ] [ 10:07 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's international donors are set to meet in Oslo in a bid to save a four-year-old ceasefire threatened by a suicide attack on the army chief and retaliatory government air raids. Peace broker Norway said the island's top aid givers -- Japan, the European Union and the United States -- would hold talks with the Norwegian government to review the unrest in the Indian Ocean island republic, where the United Nations says thousands have fled their homes in fear of the violence. At least 85 people have died in bombings alone over the past two weeks.
Tamil civilians murdered by Sri Lankan Armed Forces since Geneva talks
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 10:10 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The Tamil civilians murdered by, and under the supervision of, the SLAFs since the Geneva talks on 24 February are given in a Table in this report. With a brief explanation of the data in this Table, this Table tells the story of the gruesome terrorizing nature of the murderous campaign by the SLAFs. After reading this Table, it is not too hard to imagine the state of terror in which the Tamil people are living in the SLAFs controlled areas of Northeast.
Tamilnet editor’s murder still unpunished after one year
[ RSF ] [ 10:16 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Sri Lanka Free Media Movement (FMM) all voiced outrage today about the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder a year ago of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam "Taraki" Sivaram, the editor of the Tamilnet news website and columnist for the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror newspaper. The arrest of a suspect in June 2005 raised hopes that the case would soon be solved, but the investigators have done virtually nothing since his arrest. "The current serious crisis in Sri Lanka - the result of unacceptable terrorism - in no way justifies the impunity prevailing in the murders of journalists and human rights activists," the three press freedom organisations said.
Sri Lanka army raids shopping mall, grabs Tamil woman
[ Reuters ] [ 10:17 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lankan troops wearing motorcycle helmets stormed into a shopping mall in the capital Colombo on Friday, Reuters witnesses said, grabbing a woman who police said they suspected was linked to Tamil Tiger rebels. Police said they had received information that a woman suspected of the links to the Tamil Tigers was in the Majestic City shopping mall, and had arrested her. Two Reuters photographers were in the mall at the time.
Sri Lanka air strikes stop, but island on edge
[ Reuters ] [ 10:19 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's military held off air strikes on Tamil Tiger rebel targets for a second day on Friday as aid workers took stock of the civilian damage, but both sides warned they would attack again if provoked. More than 110 people have died in the bloodiest three weeks since a 2002 ceasefire, and diplomats say the island teeters on the brink of a new war over the Tigers' fight for a Tamil homeland in the north and east. "We have not attacked because of the ceasefire, but that doesn't mean we aren't powerful enough to attack," S. Elilan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) political leader in the northeastern district of Trincomalee, told reporters.
Sri Lanka peace overseers meet in Norway
[ Aften Posten ] [ 11:21 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Representatives from nations overseeing the Sri Lanka peace process were meeting in Oslo Friday to discuss ways to stop the escalation of violence between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.The European Union, the United States, Norway and Japan are the so-called "co-chairs" of the peace process, ensuring that the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers respect a 2002 cease-fire accord designed to end two decades of armed conflicts. Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim was chairing the talks, which were focusing on "what can be done to get the parties to respect the cease-fire and continue with the peace process," the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said.Assistant US Secretary of State Richard Boucher was representing Washington at the Oslo meeting, while the EU was sending Deputy Director of External Relations Herve Jouanjean. Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, was also attending the talks.
Absolutely no leeway for political solution
[ Northeastern Herald ] [ 11:30 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The political bankruptcy of the Sri Lankan state in solving the ethnic conflict never stood so well exposed. In the past the Sinhala polity was always able to convince everybody including many politically minded Tamil intellectuals that it was somehow possible ultimately to find a federal solution to the conflict. Earlier, in every instance of negotiating a political settlement with the Sri Lankan government Tamil leaders failed miserably in spite of their much-vaunted legal prowess to expose the utter bankruptcy of the Sinhala polity and the legal instruments which gave it the sole, inalienable right to legislate, administer and adjudicate the island’s affairs and control its national wealth.
Tigers tell of death, destruction under government bombardment
[ AFP ] [ 12:57 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Houses in this rebel-held town were deserted and streets eerily empty on Friday, three days after Sri Lanka’s military pounded it with a fiery blitz that a Tamil Tiger political officer said killed 15 people and injured 25. Smashed buildings, tangled powerlines and small blood-stained bomb and shell craters gave a hint of the mayhem wreaked during Tuesday’s government strike on the town in Trincomalee district of northeastern Sri Lanka. Now sheltering at a school in the nearby village of Pattalipuram, residents of Sampur told how they had fled in the night to escape the rain of destruction that fell from the sky.
UN says Sri Lanka political killings threaten peace
[ Reuters ] [ 13:40 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels are doing too little to crack down on extrajudicial killings, the United Nations said on Friday, warning the murders were fuelling a worsening conflict. Sri Lanka's 2002 truce is under more strain than ever after suspected Tiger attacks on the military, ethnic riots and a string of killings were followed by a suicide attack on army headquarters in Colombo and retaliatory air strikes. "Every such killing represents a major setback to the peace process, and every retaliatory death plays into the hands of those whose interests do not lie in the restoration of peace," said UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions Professor Philip Alston.
Sri Lanka's aid donors demand end to killings
[ AFP ] [ 16:21 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
International aid donors demanded an end to Sri Lanka's escalating violence and vowed "concerted action" to push the warring parties back to peace negotiations. Peace broker Norway said the island's top aid givers -- Japan, the European Union and the United States -- met in Oslo Friday to discuss the deteriorating security situation in the island and decided to continue talks in Tokyo. No new dates were announced but a statement issued by the Norwegian embassy in Colombo said they decided to meet again to "further discuss steps and concerted actions to encourage the parties to pursue a durable solution in Sri Lanka." Delegates "reiterated their deep concern at the recent deterioration of the situation in Sri Lanka, condemning all acts of violence and calling on this to stop," the statement said.
[ BBC ] [ 00:29 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The government and Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka say that a ceasefire signed in February 2002 is still holding, despite a suicide bombing on Tuesday in the army headquarters in Colombo and subsequent air strikes by the military against rebel positions in the east of the country. Norwegian peace facilitators also insist the truce is still holding. So when is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? Most analysts agree that the suicide bombing bore all the hallmarks of the Tamil Tigers, and this combined with the air strikes has blown a gaping hole in the prospects for peace. Both incidents were not random. They were pre-planned and sanctioned by the leaders of both sides.
Sri Lanka, LTTE may meet in Geneva after all
[ IANS ] [ 10:00 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger guerrillas are emitting 'positive signals' that indicate their twice-postponed meeting in Geneva may finally happen soon. Despite the dramatic escalation in violence that almost shattered the four-year ceasefire, Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are giving feelers to both Norway and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that they are ready to take part in the second round of talks in the Swiss city. But the co-chairs to Sri Lanka's peace process - the US, the European Union, Norway and Japan - however have their fingers crossed because tensions are still running high and recent incidents have only sharpened the ethnic divide.
Sri Lanka reopens roads, airstrikes end, but civil war threat remains
[ AP ] [ 10:04 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka reopened roads linking government and Tamil Tiger rebel-held territory Friday after two days of airstrikes against guerrilla areas ended, but the threat of a return to civil war remained amid continuing bloodshed. The military seized three T-56 automatic rifles in Trincomalee, the hotbed of the current violence, late Thursday from two suspected rebels, said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe. This week's violence, including two days of government airstrikes against rebel positions and a suicide bombing in the capital, posed the most serious threat yet to a 2002 truce between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels seeking a separate state in the north of the country.
Sri Lankan donors bid to save ceasefire
[ AFP ] [ 10:07 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's international donors are set to meet in Oslo in a bid to save a four-year-old ceasefire threatened by a suicide attack on the army chief and retaliatory government air raids. Peace broker Norway said the island's top aid givers -- Japan, the European Union and the United States -- would hold talks with the Norwegian government to review the unrest in the Indian Ocean island republic, where the United Nations says thousands have fled their homes in fear of the violence. At least 85 people have died in bombings alone over the past two weeks.
Tamil civilians murdered by Sri Lankan Armed Forces since Geneva talks
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 10:10 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The Tamil civilians murdered by, and under the supervision of, the SLAFs since the Geneva talks on 24 February are given in a Table in this report. With a brief explanation of the data in this Table, this Table tells the story of the gruesome terrorizing nature of the murderous campaign by the SLAFs. After reading this Table, it is not too hard to imagine the state of terror in which the Tamil people are living in the SLAFs controlled areas of Northeast.
Tamilnet editor’s murder still unpunished after one year
[ RSF ] [ 10:16 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Sri Lanka Free Media Movement (FMM) all voiced outrage today about the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder a year ago of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam "Taraki" Sivaram, the editor of the Tamilnet news website and columnist for the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror newspaper. The arrest of a suspect in June 2005 raised hopes that the case would soon be solved, but the investigators have done virtually nothing since his arrest. "The current serious crisis in Sri Lanka - the result of unacceptable terrorism - in no way justifies the impunity prevailing in the murders of journalists and human rights activists," the three press freedom organisations said.
Sri Lanka army raids shopping mall, grabs Tamil woman
[ Reuters ] [ 10:17 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lankan troops wearing motorcycle helmets stormed into a shopping mall in the capital Colombo on Friday, Reuters witnesses said, grabbing a woman who police said they suspected was linked to Tamil Tiger rebels. Police said they had received information that a woman suspected of the links to the Tamil Tigers was in the Majestic City shopping mall, and had arrested her. Two Reuters photographers were in the mall at the time.
Sri Lanka air strikes stop, but island on edge
[ Reuters ] [ 10:19 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's military held off air strikes on Tamil Tiger rebel targets for a second day on Friday as aid workers took stock of the civilian damage, but both sides warned they would attack again if provoked. More than 110 people have died in the bloodiest three weeks since a 2002 ceasefire, and diplomats say the island teeters on the brink of a new war over the Tigers' fight for a Tamil homeland in the north and east. "We have not attacked because of the ceasefire, but that doesn't mean we aren't powerful enough to attack," S. Elilan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) political leader in the northeastern district of Trincomalee, told reporters.
Sri Lanka peace overseers meet in Norway
[ Aften Posten ] [ 11:21 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Representatives from nations overseeing the Sri Lanka peace process were meeting in Oslo Friday to discuss ways to stop the escalation of violence between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.The European Union, the United States, Norway and Japan are the so-called "co-chairs" of the peace process, ensuring that the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers respect a 2002 cease-fire accord designed to end two decades of armed conflicts. Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim was chairing the talks, which were focusing on "what can be done to get the parties to respect the cease-fire and continue with the peace process," the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said.Assistant US Secretary of State Richard Boucher was representing Washington at the Oslo meeting, while the EU was sending Deputy Director of External Relations Herve Jouanjean. Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, was also attending the talks.
Absolutely no leeway for political solution
[ Northeastern Herald ] [ 11:30 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
The political bankruptcy of the Sri Lankan state in solving the ethnic conflict never stood so well exposed. In the past the Sinhala polity was always able to convince everybody including many politically minded Tamil intellectuals that it was somehow possible ultimately to find a federal solution to the conflict. Earlier, in every instance of negotiating a political settlement with the Sri Lankan government Tamil leaders failed miserably in spite of their much-vaunted legal prowess to expose the utter bankruptcy of the Sinhala polity and the legal instruments which gave it the sole, inalienable right to legislate, administer and adjudicate the island’s affairs and control its national wealth.
Tigers tell of death, destruction under government bombardment
[ AFP ] [ 12:57 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Houses in this rebel-held town were deserted and streets eerily empty on Friday, three days after Sri Lanka’s military pounded it with a fiery blitz that a Tamil Tiger political officer said killed 15 people and injured 25. Smashed buildings, tangled powerlines and small blood-stained bomb and shell craters gave a hint of the mayhem wreaked during Tuesday’s government strike on the town in Trincomalee district of northeastern Sri Lanka. Now sheltering at a school in the nearby village of Pattalipuram, residents of Sampur told how they had fled in the night to escape the rain of destruction that fell from the sky.
UN says Sri Lanka political killings threaten peace
[ Reuters ] [ 13:40 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels are doing too little to crack down on extrajudicial killings, the United Nations said on Friday, warning the murders were fuelling a worsening conflict. Sri Lanka's 2002 truce is under more strain than ever after suspected Tiger attacks on the military, ethnic riots and a string of killings were followed by a suicide attack on army headquarters in Colombo and retaliatory air strikes. "Every such killing represents a major setback to the peace process, and every retaliatory death plays into the hands of those whose interests do not lie in the restoration of peace," said UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions Professor Philip Alston.
Sri Lanka's aid donors demand end to killings
[ AFP ] [ 16:21 GMT, Apr. 28, 2006 ]
International aid donors demanded an end to Sri Lanka's escalating violence and vowed "concerted action" to push the warring parties back to peace negotiations. Peace broker Norway said the island's top aid givers -- Japan, the European Union and the United States -- met in Oslo Friday to discuss the deteriorating security situation in the island and decided to continue talks in Tokyo. No new dates were announced but a statement issued by the Norwegian embassy in Colombo said they decided to meet again to "further discuss steps and concerted actions to encourage the parties to pursue a durable solution in Sri Lanka." Delegates "reiterated their deep concern at the recent deterioration of the situation in Sri Lanka, condemning all acts of violence and calling on this to stop," the statement said.