In a display of unity and demand for economic justice, a coalition of civil rights activists protest at the doorstep of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), voicing their disapproval of the recent sharp salary increments for bank employees. Leaders like Sanjaya Mahawatte, Chairman of Magen Ratata, spearheaded the CBSL protest, highlighting issues of…
The rebels proclaimed a unilateral ceasefire but in Colombo the capital, the defense secretary immediately rejected this initiative, saying that the separatist guerrillas had the choice only to surrender or be annihilated. The Tigers are cornered with thousands of civilians in a perimeter of ten square kilometers on the northwest coast of Sri Lanka. An…
Sri Lanka voted today in parliamentary elections that should unsurprisingly end with the victory of President Rajapakse’s party. The head of state called on voters to give his party, the UPFA , the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution. Faced with the UPFA , an exploded opposition. The main opponent, the former head of…
A new explosion occurred on Monday in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.The explosion allegedly occurred during a demining operation in a van parked near a church hit the day before by a suicide bombing, police said. For the moment no victim is to be deplored. 87 detonators were also found by the police in a…
At least 42 people have already died in the center and east of the island and dozens more are missing. Floods and landslides were caused by heavy rains that devastated entire regions. 200,000 people are homeless.
No horses but tuk-tuk to play polo. The game takes place in Galle, Sri Lanka, it is the second tuk-tuk polo championships, a three-wheeled motorcycle that has symbolized transportation in Asia for 50 years.
Francis also pleaded for the freedom to believe in a country wounded by interfaith tensions and called on leaders to repent. The pope went to the north-west of the island to the Marian shrine of Madhu, in the Tamil zone. This symbolic place which was on the front line is now a place of peace…
On CCTV footage, we can see the path of one of the suspected suicide bombers of the Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka. A man with a backpack enters Saint Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, north of the capital Colombo, during Easter Mass, and blows himself up. According to the preliminary elements of the investigation, these attacks…
In 2009, the Tamil rebellion was crushed in a bloodbath. This Saturday, during the Commonwealth summit, British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered Colombo to open an investigation. “As things stand, the Sri Lankan government does not accept the need for a fully independent investigation,” said David Camerom. “If the government does not give in, an…
In an ambitious move to foster bilateral trade growth and improve international trade, the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) is poised to endorse a landmark collaboration with the Standardisation Administration of China (SAC). This strategic partnership, encapsulated within a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), is targeted at dismantling the technical barriers that have posed challenges to…
Pope Francis continues his trip to Sri Lanka on Wednesday. A visit dedicated to inter-religious dialogue “Religious beliefs must not be allowed to be abused for the cause of violence and war. “ During his first day, this Tuesday, in Colombo, the Sovereign Pontiff has already mentioned reconciliation and unity several times. Sri Lanka was…
The head of United Nations Humanitarian Affairs leaves Sri Lanka “disappointed”. John Holmes did not get a “green light” from the government to send a humanitarian team to the region where the Tamil Tigers are entrenched, surrounded by the army which intends to end a separatist rebellion that began in the 1970s. At least 50,000…
The Sri Lankan army today announced the end of its heavy military operations in the area of around ten km2 where rebels and thousands of civilians are entrenched. She also assured that she would endeavor to rescue civilians held hostage by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Yesterday the separatists unilaterally proclaimed a ceasefire which…
A Sri Lankan army fighter plane bombarding an area where civilians are refugees … They want to show that the government is not keeping its promise to no longer use fighter jets or heavy weapons against the separatist rebellion. Precisely because of the presence of tens of thousands of civilians. They are said to be…
During the campaign he was accused of corruption and of failing to seal national reconciliation. It was his former Minister of Health, Maithripala Sirisena, who had gone to the opposition, who therefore won the election.
A symbolic gesture in Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapakse has declared a ceasefire of at least 48 hours with the rebellion on the occasion of the Tamil New Year celebrations which begin tomorrow. In 2002, a similar truce was quickly shattered. This announcement comes as the government army has been trying for several months to…
Like all churches in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, St Theresa, remained desperately empty on Sunday … While the threat remains high in Sri Lanka after the attack on hotels and churches that claimed the lives of 253 people on Sunday last, the authorities did not want to take any risks. It is therefore in…
In Sri Lanka, hundreds of monks demonstrated on Thursday in front of the Bangladeshi embassy in Colombo. A peaceful mobilization to denounce the violence perpetrated last weekend by radical Islamists against Buddhist temples in Bangladesh. At the origin of these inter-religious tensions, the publication on a social network of a photo deemed blasphemous with regard…
Three bombs were discovered in a Sri Lanka: new explosion during a demining operation The vehicle was parked near the Saint-Anthony Church, hit the day before by a deadly attack. The series of bombings this Easter Sunday killed at least 290 people, and left nearly 500 injured.
The attack blamed on the Tamil rebels killed several police officers and injured more than 85 in Colombo, the country’s capital. According to the army spokesman, “the target was a police bus. A motorcycle crashed into the vehicle ”. The explosion occurred in a commercial district of the capital near the Hilton hotel, and in…