Over 600 soldiers injured and over 90 killed in Sri Lanka clashes

Ninety-three soldiers were killed while 686 were injured last month in the island's war zone in the northern province in the battle against the Tamil Tiger rebels, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake told parliament here Wednesday.

The Prime Minister said that 38 civilians had also been killed in the clashes.

Sri Lanka's military is currently engaging the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in three separate fronts in the north and north eastern regions.

The campaign is part of the government's thrust towards the rebel-held Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts, their last holds in the north and east region where they want to set up a separate homeland for the Tamil minority.

The government's military offensive in the island's east ended up with last July's clearing of the entire province from the LTTE rebels. The LTTE called it a tactical withdrawal.

The clashes have escalated despite pleas on both sides from the international community to resume the process of Norway backed direct negotiations.

More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict since the mid1980s.

Source: xinhuanet

Weerawansa refutes charge of indiscipline

The ultra-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) split on Tuesday with party’s vocal propaganda secretary and MP Wimal Weerawansa along with 10 parliamentarians raising a banner of revolt against the leadership and announcing their decision to function as a separate block in Parliament.

The development, though not unexpected since Mr. Weerawansa was suspended on March 21 from party membership on charges of indiscipline, took political observers by surprise as he managed to walk away with nearly one-third of the party MPs. One of them later walked out of the group.

Mr. Weerawansa chose Parliament to announce the decision of his party to place him under suspension and claimed that the central committee has voted in favour of his expulsion immediately after the Eastern elections.

Mr. Weerawansa said such an action would not please the “members of the party but the will and wish of external evil forces aiming at dividing the nation.”

An emotionally charged Mr. Weerawansa said 20 years ago, he scarified opportunities for higher education for the betterment of the party he represented. He refuted the charges of indiscipline and bemoaned that “shooting within was more painful than being shot from outside.”

Besides the Tamil National Party (TNA), the JVP was the only party to have survived so far without a split. The UNP has been affected the most with nearly half of its parliamentarians defecting to take up ministerial assignments.

At a crowded news conference later, Mr. Weerawansa asked the party rank and file to “probe” how such decisions were made by the party leadership. He said a conspiracy would result in only a “collapse and new births.”
Tigers’ appeal

Amid claims by the military on Tuesday that at least 25 LTTE cadres were killed in the north along the Forward Defence Lines, the Tigers appealed to Norway to end the “military assault” on the Madu church in Mannar district.

LTTE’s political head B. Nadesan alleged that Sri Lanka had launched a “large scale military onslaught with the view to occupy Vanni” and said the onslaughts were targeting the church.

The Foreign Ministry refuted the allegation and said the government was committed to safeguarding the sanctity of the shrine.

Source: Hindu

UN appeals for protection of civilians following suicide attack

The United Nations has urged all parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka to do everything they can to protect civilians, after a suicide attack this weekend in the capital, Colombo, claimed the lives of 15 people.

In a statement issued today by the Office of the Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, the UN strongly condemned Sunday’s attack which occurred during a sporting event. Among those killed were Government Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and several well-known athletes.

Sri Lanka has witnessed several attacks in the past few months, following the Government’s decision earlier this year to end the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement that halted a decades-long conflict with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Condemning all violence and indiscriminate attacks against civilians, the UN appealed to all parties to seek a negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict.

Source: UN

LTTE asks Norway to halt Sri Lankan military operation

The Tamil Tigers have urged Norway to press Sri Lanka to halt a military drive towards a 400-year-old Catholic shrine in the northwestern district of Mannar. In a letter to Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) charged that a “part of the shrine is already damaged by Sri Lankan military attacks”.

LTTE political wing chief B. Nadesan said there was continued danger that the church “will sustain further damage because the military is persisting with its onslaught” aimed at hitting the Tamil Tigers.

“We would like to place a request through you, who is looked upon by the Tamil people as a peace envoy, to the Norwegian government to take steps to immediately end the military assault of the holy Madhu shrine,” the LTTE peace secretariat quoted Nadesan as saying.

“The international community together with international institutions that are concerned about protecting the historical treasures of the world must be brought together. We hope the Norwegian government, together with them, will take the necessary actions to end the attacks on the church,” Nadesan has appealed.

As fighting rages in Sri Lanka’s north, the statue of the Virgin Mary has already been removed by the church authorities and taken to a safer place - the first time in 400 years that it has moved.

The Madhu church is a known pilgrimage site for Catholics. The Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph, said his repeated appeals to both sides to respect the area as a no war zone were of no avail.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara rejected the LTTE’s latest charges and stressed that the army was neither shelling nor conducting military operations towards the Madhu shrine.

“Our troops are well aware of the location of the sacred Madhu Church and we are not firing shells towards that area. We are in fact not going towards Madhu even though our radars have detected LTTE firing mortar shells towards the advancing troops from there,” Nanayakkara told IANS.

He said the troops were currently operating at Palampiddi, about 2.5 kilometres north of Madhu, and at Giant Tank area, about four kilometres west of Madhu.

“Unable to face the military thrust, the LTTE is now hell bent on creating some international pressure to stop the ongoing military operations completely by making such false allegations,” Brig. Nanayakkara charged, claiming that nearly 50 LTTE cadres were killed during weekend clashes.

Source: thaindian.com

War will not stop Sri Lanka development - president

Sri Lanka would not cut funds for the nation's vital infrastructure development, despite fighting a continued bloody civil war, the country's president said on Tuesday.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also finance minister said economic development and elimination of terrorism should be done simultaneously.

"We will implement all the infrastructure projects to develop the country while successfully facing terrorism," Rajapaksa said after releasing the 2007 central bank annual report.

"We will never take a step back on eliminating terrorism despite some people saying the economy is collapsing due to war," he said.

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed Sri Lanka's highways minister and at least 13 other people attending a marathon race near the capital on Sunday.

The Tigers, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the island, have waged a 25-year civil war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people.

Sri Lanka achieved 6.8 percent economic growth in 2007, down from last year's 7.7 percent and less than the forecast 7.5 percent, the central bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka has achieved over 6 percent growth for the past three years and forecast growth in 2008 is 7 percent, but the bank said the country needed growth in excess of 8 percent in the medium-term to carry out a 10 year development programme by 2016.

It said investment needed to be channelled into competitively priced energy, telecommunications, drinking and irrigation water, roads, ports, airports, health and education.

"The slow progress in the implementation of some planned infrastructure projects announced in the 10-year vision needs to be addressed as a matter of priority sooner rather than later," the central bank said.

Inflation in Sri Lanka rose to a 17 year high of over 20 percent in 2007, before the central bank introduced a new index. The new inflation index in March was 17.7 percent.

The central bank said it hoped to bring down inflation to 10-11 percent by the end of 2008, but said much depended on external global economic factors. It blamed soaring global oil prices and high food prices for the record high inflation.

But the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank says loose fiscal and monetary policy are behind high inflation.

Source: Reuters

Sri Lanka suicide bombing prompts calls for political solution

The United States, European Union and Canada have condemned Sunday's Tamil Tiger suicide bombing which killed a Sri Lankan minister, saying only a political solution, not violence, would ensure peace.
"The United States denounces this vicious and reprehensible terrorist attack on civilians in the strongest possible terms," a US embassy statement said Monday.

"Its perpetrators have achieved nothing other than to cause further suffering among the people of Sri Lanka. Only a political solution, not continued violence, offers the way forward to end the country's conflict."

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed Sri Lanka's highways minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle as he opened a marathon Sunday in the town of Weliveriya north of the capital.

The attack also killed 13 others and wounded nearly 100, police and officials said.

Fernandopulle was the second minister to be killed this year.

Nation building minister D.M. Dassanayake was killed in a roadside bomb attack in the same district earlier this year.

The Tigers are trying to hit back at the government through bombings after suffering setbacks at the hands of the military in the north and east.

The military went on the offensive after the government scrapped a ceasefire with the Tigers, saying the rebels had repeatedly violated the truce and dodged all efforts to resume peace talks.

Western countries have however appealed to both sides to resume peace talks, saying violence would not solve the problem.

The European Commission also condemned Sunday's attack.

Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, expressed deep shocks over the attack.

"The EU condemns all forms of terrorism and violence against civilians," a European Commission statement said.

"The EU continues to believe that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka and only a negotiated settlement can open the way for a lasting peace."

Canadian foreign minister Maxime Bernier said in a statement that Canada "strongly deplores" the attack.

"Canada condemns all forms of terrorism. We are deeply concerned about the worsening impact of this ongoing conflict on civilians, including humanitarian workers and human rights defenders. It is clear that violence will not bring lasting peace to Sri Lanka."

The EU, US and Canada are among Sri Lanka's key aid donors and have been trying to put pressure on both sides to resume peace talks.

Source: LBN

EU condemns suicide blast which killed minister

The European Commission, the executive of the European Union, on Monday strongly condemned the suicide bombing in Sri Lanka on Sunday which killed 14 people including a government minister.

"I am deeply shocked by yesterday's heinous attack on minister of roads Jeyaraj Fernandopulle near Colombo," said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations in a statement on Monday.

"I strongly condemn this suicide attack, which not only killed Minister Fernandopoulle and 14 civilians but also injured many innocent bystanders," she said.

Fernandopoulle was killed by a suicide bomber as he flagged off a marathon race near Colombo on Sunday. He was reportedly a vocal critic of the separatist rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The government blamed the LTTE rebels for the attack.

"The EU condemns all forms of terrorism and violence against civilians. The EU continues to believe that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka and only a negotiated settlement can open the way for a lasting peace," said Ferrero-Waldner.

Reports said that Sri Lankan airforce jets on Monday bombed and destroyed a base used by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Sri Lankan defence ministry said that the airforce jets destroyed a base suspected of being used to train suicide bombers in the rebel-held north.

Tamil rebels have been blamed for a series of blasts in Colombo and elsewhere in Sri Lanka this year after the government pulled out of a 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in January this year.

The minister for nation building, DM Dassanayake, was killed in a bombing on 8 January, days after the government pulled out of the ceasefire.

Since 1983, the Tamil Tigers have been fighting for an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils after decades of marginalisation by governments run by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Source: adnkronos.com

United States Strongly Condemns Terrorist Attack in Weliweriya

The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on April 6 in Weliweriya, Gampaha District that claimed the life of Minister of Highways and Road Development and Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. Also killed in this heinous attack were National Athletic Coach Lakshman de Alwis, well- known marathon runner K.A. Karunaratne, and several other persons, while scores more were injured. Minister Fernandopulle was a friend and valued colleague for many Americans. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims and to all Sri Lankans for this tragic loss.

The United States denounces this vicious and reprehensible terrorist attack on civilians in the strongest possible terms. Its perpetrators have achieved nothing other than to cause further suffering among the people of Sri Lanka. Only a political solution, not continued violence, offers the way forward to end the country’s conflict.

Source: US embassy SL

Reliance Communications makes Sri Lanka foray

Reliance Communications (RCom) in its effort to enter the Sri Lankan telecom market has formed a JV, named Reliance Mobile Lanka with a local firm, Electroteks which will begin GSM mobile services in Sri Lanka followed by other telecom services by this year.

RCom will reportedly invest Rs 1200 crore in the JV in the next three years to establish a next generation integrated network.

The new venture is expected to establish a network of about 5 million lines covering nearly 40 percent of the population.

Source:telecomtiger.com

LTTE sets up base in US, says report

The LTTE has quietly established presence in the United States as part of its global expansion plan to raise funds and procure anti-aircraft weapons and other military equipment on a massive scale.

The group's political wing has established "branches" in at least 12 countries, including the US, as part of a global expansion to purchase millions of dollars worth of anti-aircraft weapons, automatic rifles, grenade launchers, ammunition and other military equipment, the Washington Times reported on Monday quoting officials.

The expansion includes operations in Maryland, New York and New Jersey.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has been battling the Sri Lankan military since 1983 to press for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in Sinhalese-majority Sri Lanka. Colombo had in January scrapped a tattered ceasefire with the rebels.

On Sunday, a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber hit a marathon event in Sri Lanka, killing 13, including a powerful minister, and wounding 100 others.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York in April last year said the LTTE relied on "sympathetic Tamil expatriates" in the US, Canada, Britain, Australia, France and other countries to raise and launder money; smuggle arms, explosives, equipment and technology to Sri Lanka; obtain intelligence about the Sri Lankan government; and spread propaganda.

The LTTE grabbed the attention of US authorities in August 2006 when eight people were charged in the New York case with conspiracy to provide resources and material support, the paper said.

Source: sify.com