[The Times]

Britain and other EU countries sold military equipment worth millions of pounds to the Sri Lankan Government in the last three years of its bloody civil war with the Tamil Tigers, The Times has learnt. Britain approved commercial sales of more than £13.6 million of equipment including armoured vehicles, machinegun components and semiautomatic pistols, according to official records. Slovakia provided 10,000 rockets worth £1.1 million, while Bulgaria approved sales of guns and ammunition worth £1.75 million, according to EU documents and officials.

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[ANC]

The African National Congress (ANC) expresses its very serious concern at the unfolding humanitarian crisis that is emerging on the Island of Sri Lanka.

The United Nations International Red Cross Committee has reported that over 300 000 civilians of Tamil origin are caught in the crossfire in the war that is currently raging in Sri Lanka between the fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who have retreated into the jungles of The Vanni in the north of the Island.

This liberation war between the Tamil Tigers for self determination and the Sri Lankan Government has been going on for well over 27 years and has resulted in the deaths of hundreds and thousands of civilians from both sides of the conflict and much destruction in the country.

The continued conflict in Sri Lanka has been cited on the “human rights watch” international monitoring mechanisms as a conflict now reaching genocidal proportions.

The ANC urges all parties in the conflict, both the LTTE and the Sri lankan Government to call a halt, immediately institute a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid to be brought to civilians caught in the conflict who are in dire need of assistance. The ANC calls on all political players to immediately return to the negotiating table and resume a peaceful process of finding a lasting political solution to the conflict.

Issued by:
Carl Niehaus
National Spokesperson

[HRW]
The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should take immediate steps to allow thousands of civilians trapped in a shrinking conflict zone safe passage and to ensure that they receive desperately needed humanitarian aid, Human Rights Watch said today. Intense fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the separatist LTTE has caught an estimated 250,000 civilians in deadly crossfire, and in the past week civilian casualties have risen dramatically.

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[IRIN]

The Sri Lankan government is under intense local and international pressure to halt attacks against journalists and media organisations after a newspaper editor was killed and a private television station attacked by unidentified armed gangs. The incidents came as the military announced making significant headway in its battle against Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists in the north and northeast of the island. Ground troops took control of the rebels’ main headquarters in Kilinochchi on 2 January and shortly after, a key access route to the northern Jaffna peninsula, Elephant Pass. An offensive to capture the northeastern Mullaitivu District is under way.

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[BBC]

The Sri Lankan government has accused the opposition of trying to gain political advantage from last week’s murder of a prominent newspaper editor. Engineering Services Minister Rajitha Senaratne said he did not know who had killed Lasantha Wickramatunga but it was the opposition that had benefited. The Sunday Leader editor was one of the government’s leading critics. He was shot in the head by unknown killers. A piece by him published by his paper after his death blames the government. The editorial, entitled And Then They Came For Me, in which Mr Wickramatunga predicted his own murder, says: “When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me.”

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[ Time ]

Lasantha Wickrematunge, one of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists, a freelance reporter for TIME and an outspoken critic of the Sri Lankan government, was shot this morning as he drove to work in Colombo, his country’s capital. He later died of his injuries. The attack, by two gunmen on motorcycles in the middle of morning rush hour traffic, was brazen even by the standards of Sri Lanka. The country has suffered through more than 25 years of war between the government and a Tamil separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which pioneered the use of suicide bombers.

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[HRW]

The killing of a prominent newspaper editor today and the bombing of a private television station on January 6, 2009, highlight the Sri Lankan government’s failure to stop violence against the media, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said. The groups said that past investigations into attacks on journalists have led nowhere, and that the government should act quickly to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

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[ AP ]

The Sri Lankan government officially outlawed the Tamil Tiger rebel group Wednesday, ruling out the possibility of restarting peace talks any time soon to end a quarter-century of civil war. The Tamil Tigers had long been outlawed in Sri Lanka, but the government lifted the ban in 2002 when the sides agreed a ceasefire. The deal collapsed amid new fighting three years ago. The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.

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[National Post]

I heard a funny quote on the radio today by a journalist about “shiny ball” stories. These are stories that she and her colleagues love running after, seem exciting and give great sound bites, but divert your attention from more pressing matters. And lo and behold, on Monday morning, leafing through the National Post, I came upon an editorial on how Canada should address a potential onslaught of Tamils Tigers landing on Canadian shores to seek refugee status, should they lose the war against the Sri Lankan government.

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[ AFP ]

The US State Department on Friday urged the Sri Lankan and Tamil Tigers to start negotiating over the “legitimate” demands of the Tamils after Colombo announced a key win over the rebels. “The Sri Lankan government now seems to have made a gain through a military gain,” Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman, told reporters when asked for comment on the development. “We would also like to see that the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil opposition enter into a discussion that will resolve the legitimate issues held by the Tamils,” Duguid added. “But we repeat our call that the differences they have should be resolved peacefully,” he said. The Sri Lankan conflict over the Tigers’ demand for a separate Tamil homeland has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1972.

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