A dramatic turn in Sri Lanka. The unsuccessful presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was arrested on Monday by the police, on charges of “military offenses”. The authorities suspect the former head of the armed forces of wanting to instigate a coup d’état. Ally last spring to the outgoing president in the fight against the Tamil rebels,…
The electoral campaign was peppered with violence. At the end of July, the attack on a meeting of the National Union Party, a member of the government coalition, left two dead and 12 injured. 63,000 police officers were therefore mobilized on Monday for these legislative elections which oppose two major political figures of the country….
New record of the floods in Sri Lanka: the authorities now speak of more than 100 dead. This toll could increase further because several dozen people are still missing. The archipelago is faced with heavy monsoon rains which cause flooding and landslides. It is the western and southern regions that are most affected. Soldiers were…
Sri Lanka returns to a painful past. Five years later, the Rajapaksa family regains power. After Mahinda, now ineligible, it was his brother Gotabaya who was elected on Sunday as president of this South Asian island. Nicknamed the Terminator, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 70, wins with more than 50% of the vote ahead of the former Prime…
At least 13 prisoners have been killed in Sri Lanka’s largest prison in Colombo, the capital. To the chagrin of the police, detainees managed to take control of part of the penitentiary center and to take staff members hostage. Some prisoners were armed. The soldiers were called in as reinforcements.