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Q&A: Sri Lanka Remains Defiant of U.N. Chief
Thalif Deen interviews DR. PALITHA KOHONA, Sri Lanka's Permanent U.N. Representative
UNITED NATIONS - The Sri Lankan government continues to challenge U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's right to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on the human rights situation - euphemistically called "accountability issues" – following the end of a protracted conflict against a secessionist group widely considered a terrorist organisation.
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POLITICS: Sri Lanka Garners Support Against U.N. Probe
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - Sri Lanka, which won a grueling decades-long battle against one of the world's most ferocious terrorist organisations last May, has scored a diplomatic victory in its ongoing war of words with the United Nations.
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POLITICS: Sri Lanka Locks Horns with UN over Experts’ Panel
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - The war of words between the Sri Lankan government and the United Nations has begun all over again, this time over the creation of an experts’ panel on the island’s human rights record.
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POLITICS: Sri Lanka, Britain Spar Again Over Tigers
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - Tensions between Sri Lanka and Britain may have calmed down somewhat after the civil conflict ended in this South Asian country last year, but are rising again after the government accused London of aiding the defeated Tamil Tigers to regroup internationally.
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DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: NGOs Brace for Tighter Gov’t Control
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Local and foreign non-governmental organisations have had a liberal existence in Sri Lanka, but this may not last for much longer under the government’s plans to amend a 1980 law that would tighten control over them.
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SRI LANKA: Post-Election Protests Fail to Get Wide Support
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - Street protests that erupted in Colombo and other cities following the Feb. 8 arrest of defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka have yet to gain wider support from non-political groups.
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RIGHTS: Sri Lanka’s Election Aftermath – Media Under Attack
Analysis by IPS Correspondents
COLOMBO - Sri Lankan journalists, for whom intimidation, threats, assault and killings seem to have become unavoidable professional hazards, are bracing themselves for a fresh confrontation with the government as curbs on reporting intensify.
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SRI LANKA: The Post-Election Road Ahead for President Rajapaksa
Analysis by Adithya Alles
COLOMBO - Sri Lankans witnessed one of the country’s most contentious elections ever when President Mahinda Rajapaksa staved off the challenge posed by his former Army commander, Sarath Fonseka, and clinched more than 1.8 million majority votes during the Jan. 26 poll.
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SRI LANKA: Gov’t Defends Detention of Suspected Tamil Rebels
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka is rejecting claims that some 11,000 people who surrendered as suspected Tamil rebels just before the decades-long bloody conflict ended in May 2009 are being held incommunicado or risk being tortured.
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SRI LANKA: Historic Election Results Dash Minority’s Hopes
By IPS Correspondent
COLOMBO - Now that the electorate has given its verdict, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s victory in the just concluded presidential polls sends an ominous signal to the minority people of the island state.
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SRI LANKA: Country Heads Into Decisive Elections
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - Call it a novel election propaganda ploy.
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SRI LANKA: Colombo’s Diplomatic Sparring Games with EU, U.S.
Analysis by Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - One thing that has set apart the current administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa from those of his predecessors is its diplomatic duels with international heavyweights.
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SRI LANKA: 25 Years On, Women Still Struggle for Their Rights
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - When Thamalini, leader of the women’s wing of Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger guerrillas, entertained guests at the women’s political wing office in northern areas once controlled by the rebels, the visitors were served tea and other refreshments by male aides.
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SRI LANKA: Mixed Reactions to EU Threat to Cut Trade Concessions
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - When the European Union announced last year that it was seeking an investigation into alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka as a precondition for extending concessionary tariff rates for exports from the island state, the government promptly cried foul.
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SRI LANKA: U.S. Govt Report Adds to Pressure for War Crimes Probe
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department released a report Thursday detailing possible violations of the laws of war in Sri Lanka during the first half of 2009, adding to pressure for an independent, international investigation into alleged atrocities committed by government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists.
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As the Sri Lankan army pushes deep into rebel territory, the government claims that the island nation's quarter century ethnic war is now heading for a decisive showdown. The government has vowed to obliterate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who have been fighting to create a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island. As Sri Lanka slips deeper into the chasm of war, IPS brings you incisive reports from this tear-shaped island.