Headlines

Athula Kahandaliyanage
Sri Lanka Defends Refugee Aid Program as Ban Visits
Bloomberg
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Sri Lanka rejected criticism of its aid for civil war refugees as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to visit the island today to promote reconciliation after the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels.
Karuna Amman
Sri Lankan minister admits army killed civilians
Daily Telegraph
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Telegraph, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Colonel Karuna, said president Mahinda Rajapaksa had made a mistake when he claimed no-one died at the hands of the army.
Basil and Ban
U.N. Presses to Enter War Zone
Washington Post
Thursday, May 21st, 2009

COLOMBO- The United Nations pressed Sri Lanka's government on Wednesday to give aid workers unfettered access to the war zone in the country's north and allow them to evacuate any civilians still trapped there after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers rebel group.

Tiger by the Tail
Human Rights Watch
Thursday, May 21st, 2009

I met Neelan Tiruchelvam, a prominent activist who had entered Sri Lankan politics, on my first trip to the island nation 15 years ago. Over several cups of tea he patiently explained the complexities and risks for ethnic Tamils who were critical of both the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He believed that as a member of parliament, he could help bring peace to the country, mired in a brutal civil war since the mid-1980s. In 1999, a Tiger suicide bomber blew him up outside his Colombo home.

Prabhakharan on Stretcher
War’s End: Bloody Family Triumph
The New York Times
Thursday, May 21st, 2009

NEW DELHI — The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Tuesday savored a victory that had eluded every Sri Lankan head of state before him: he declared on television that after more than 25 years, his troops had defeated one of the world’s most enduring guerrilla armies on the battlefield.

Mahinda Rajapaksa and Hu Jintao
China emerges as key player in victory over Tamil Tigers
Daily Telegraph
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
THE pitiless success of Sri Lanka's military offensive delivers one salutary lesson: if you have China as an ally, you can afford to ignore pressure from anywhere else.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Government has won China's financial, military and diplomatic support - along with the confidence to brush off Western protests.

Prabhakaran's Corpse
Sri Lankan President Calls for Unity as Rebels Deny Leader Is Dead
The New York Times
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

COLOMBO— President Mahinda Rajapaksa called for national unity Tuesday as he declared victory in the country’s 26-year war against the Tamil Tiger rebels, but provided few details about how he planned to heal the wounds of a conflict that has left more than a generation of ethnic Tamil marginalized.

Injured - Amnesty
Appeal to free Sri Lanka doctors
BBC
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

International human rights groups have appealed for the release of three Sri Lankan doctors accused of giving false information to the media.

The doctors had been staffing makeshift hospitals on a shrinking patch of land where the Sri Lankan army isolated Tamil Tiger rebels.

EU Guns
EU states sell arms to Sri Lanka while condemning violence
EU Observer
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

BRUSSELS - The European Union on Monday (18 May) called for an independent inquiry into alleged human rights violations resulting from the conflict in Sri Lanka and demanded those responsible be held to account.

Hospital After Bombing
Sri Lankan war zone doctors detained
Associated Press
Monday, May 18th, 2009

COLOMBO — Three Sri Lankan doctors who treated hundreds of badly wounded civilians in understaffed, makeshift hospitals in the country's war zone were detained on accusations they gave false information about the casualties to the media, a health official said Monday.

Prabhakaran
LTTE head 'killed' fleeing war zone
Al Jazeera
Monday, May 18th, 2009

The body of the leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatists has been found in an ambulance destroyed by troops as it sped out of the war zone, military sources have said.

The news came hours after the military said it had found the bodies of four Tamil Tigers, including that of the son of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Sri Lanka Says Civilians Free
Bloomberg
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
Sri Lanka’s military said all civilians held by the Tamil Tigers were freed and the fate of the group’s founder Velupillai Prabhakaran is unknown, after President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced the defeat of the rebels.

“There is still no news about the LTTE leadership,” military spokesman brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said in a phone interview from the capital, Colombo. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leaders are believed to be hiding in a 1.5 square kilometers (0.6 square miles) region in northeastern Mullaitivu district, he said.

Army Divisions meet up
Sri Lanka says Tigers defeated, last fight rages
Reuters
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
COLOMBO - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday said the Tamil Tigers had been militarily defeated as soldiers seized control of the entire coastline for the first time in a 25-year war.

Rajapaksa, on a visit to Jordan, said he would return to Sri Lanka on Sunday "as a leader of a nation that vanquished terrorism".

Gordon Brown and Mahinda Rajapaksa
Brown calls for end to Sri Lanka conflict
ITN UK
Saturday, May 16th, 2009
British Prime Minister Minister Gordon Brown has warned Sri Lanka to be aware as "there will be consequences for its actions", as its military has taken control of the island's entire coastline.
Navi Pillay
Human Rights Council considers emergency session
Reuters
Saturday, May 16th, 2009

GENEVA - U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay backs calls for an inquiry into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka's closed-off conflict zone that may have already become a "killing field," her spokesman said on Friday.

Bill Rammell
U.K. Will Support War Crimes Investigation - Foreign Minister
U&U Newsdesk
Friday, May 15th, 2009
The United Kingdom will support an "early investigation into all incidents that may have resulted in civilian casualties, particularly the reported shelling of hospitals, to determine whether war crimes have been committed," declared British Foreign Minister Bill Rammell, speaking in Parliament, Thursday.
Gota and Nambiar
U.N. Envoy Arrives in Sri Lanka
The New York Times
Friday, May 15th, 2009
HONG KONG — A senior United Nations envoy arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday for possible cease-fire talks with the government as tens of thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians remained in peril in what the Red Cross said was “an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe.”
Hillary Clinton
Clinton says timing wrong for IMF loan as thousands of civilians flee fighting
Reuters
Friday, May 15th, 2009
COLOMBO - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to dissuade the International Monetary Fund from considering a $1.9 billion loan for Sri Lanka. "We think it is not an appropriate time to consider that until there is a resolution of this conflict and that is what we are focused on," Clinton told reporters in Washington.
Fleeing Civilians
In blood steeped
The Economist
Thursday, May 14th, 2009

It is too late to warn of a civilian slaughter in north-eastern Sri Lanka. The “bloodbath [predicted] has become a reality,” said the UN’s spokesman in Colombo on May 11th, as news of the latest atrocity emerged from the crowded beach where the army and Tamil Tiger rebels are fighting their last battle.

On May 9th and 10th 480 civilian refugees are reported to have been brought dead or dying to a makeshift hospital in the war-zone, victims of shellfire.

Army Photo - Civilians
UN calls for faster screening process, greater access
IRIN
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
COLOMBO - The UN is calling on the Sri Lankan government to expedite the screening of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) now staying at dozens of government camps in the north. 

Almost 200,000 Tamil civilians have fled the fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland for more than two decades.