Monthly archive

Sweden is expected to decide today on the future of its embassy in Sri Lanka. Based on the rationalization committee report prepared in October 2008, Sweden is supposed to review the necessity of keeping its mission in Colombo. The opposition Socialist Party leaders told "Asian Tribune" that they don’t support the government’s move at this juncture to close down its mission in Colombo. They said at present it is the duty of Sweden and the international community to support Sri Lanka in its humanitarian crises. They said closing down the mission in Colombo would send wrong signals to the international community about Sweden. They also said that It may also reflect that Sweden is reluctant to support humanitarian issues.

Hilary Rajakarunanayake, Editor – Sri Lanka, Asian Tribune

Sri Lanka would soon reopen its Embassy in Baghdad headed by an Ambassador and diplomatic representation of Iraq in Colombo would be upgraded to Ambassadorial level. The Sri Lankan President and the Iraqi Vice President agreed on this when both leaders met at the sidelines of the G 11 Conference held in Jordan. The Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd Al-Mahadi complimented the President on the success achieved in defeating terrorism in Sri Lanka and the measures taken to rescue the civilians held captive by the LTTE when he met the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Jordan.

By Wajid Ali Syed – Washington Correspondent for Asian Tribune

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a joint statement today to mark the end of fighting in Sri Lanka with the government's victory over the LTTE. Committee chairman John Kerry along with other members stated, “We welcome the news that Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war has been brought to a close. For the past twenty-six years, the people of Sri Lanka have suffered enormously from a conflict that appeared intractable. Some 70,000 were killed, many more injured, and countless others were uprooted and forced to flee the violence. In recent months, civilians in the north-eastern part of the island have faced terrible hardship, and exceptionally difficult conditions still persist for hundreds of thousands that have been internally displaced. The scale of the suffering has been obscured by denial of access to humanitarian workers, journalists, and most other outside observers."

Kent HärstedtA Swedish Member of Parliament Kent Härstedt and the Swedisn Channel 4 TV Crew members are in Colombo today to promote Swedish – Sri Lanka relationship and to explore ways and means of providing humanitarian support to Sri Lanka. Kent Härstedt is from the Social Democratic Party and also the member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs. He has visited Sri Lanka numerous times and also is one of the leading Swedish Parliamentarian in the ‘Swedish – Sri Lankan Friendship organization’.

By Raj Gonsalkorale

The Western lecture circuit led by British Foreign Secretary David Milliband has begun where they left just prior to the Sri Lankan government’s emphatic defeat of LTTE militarism. True the victory came at a cost. Not only did terrorists, who are also sons and daughters of the Sri Lankan soil die, but many brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives to the motherland they dearly loved, also died. In the crossfire, many innocent civilians also lost their lives and their homes and their livelihoods. No war is clinical and precise to the extent that only combatants perish. Surely David Milliband does not think there is such a world? He could not have such a short memory to have forgotten Iraq, where hundreds and thousands of civilians died in a mindless war that his Labor party prosecuted, and where many civilians are being killed now in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

The UN Human Rights Council is to hold a special session on 25 May to address the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, following a request by several of its members. "It is hoped that the holding of this special session will contribute towards the cause of peace," said the Council’s President, Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi. "The Human Rights Council cannot be silent when innocent civilians are caught up in armed conflicts. The international community must strive to deliver justice to victims of human rights violations wherever they occur and ensure that those found guilty of such crimes are held accountable for their actions," he added.

Daya Gamage – US National Correspondent Asian Tribune

The United States which strongly encouraged Sri Lanka to engage in political negotiations with Tamil Tigers believing the outfit’s invincibility implicitly and explicitly indicating that their total annihilation will silence the voice of the minority ethnic Tamils had no immediate reaction to the outfit’s total defeat on Monday May 18. The U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly at the daily media briefing on Tuesday side stepped the issue of U.S. Government congratulating Sri Lanka. Instead he was continually referring to humanitarian situation and the internally displayed person’s plight.

Dr. Subramanian Swamy, president of the Janata Party said in a statement. "The defeat and decimation of the LTTE by the Sri Lanka armed forces with the firm resolve of President Rajapakse, is a cause for rejoicing by democratic patriotic people of India." A former Union Law Minister of India, Dr. Subramanian Swamy said, "LTTE not only killed Rajiv Gandhi, but was training cadres of ULFA, Naxalites, PWG and Dravida kazhagam. It was smuggling arms and narcotics into India and petrol, diesel and medicines out of our country." He added that the people of Tamil Nadu have several times demonstrated that they do not want to have anything to do with the LTTE.

The Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki telephoned Foreign Minister Bogollagama on Tuesday (19th May), to congratulate the President, the Foreign Minister and the Government of Sri Lanka on the success achieved by Sri Lanka in defeating LTTE terrorism. The Iranian Foreign Minister said that Iran has maintained close relations with Sri Lanka and has always condemned terrorism and, consistently upheld the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. He said that he was speaking on behalf of the President of Iran who has conveyed his best wishes to Sri Lanka and will personally speak to the President of Sri Lanka at a mutually convenient time. Iran has also offered assistance through the Red Crescent, for the emergency relief operations for the IDPs in the North.