While the outgoing president Mahinda Rajapakse is given as reelected by the electoral commission the hotel of his adversary the ex-chief of the armies is surrounded by the soldiers. The latter rejects the result of the ballot. Sarath Fonseka has requested the protection of a foreign country to ensure its safety in the face of…
About fifteen dead and up to 300 missing in Sri Lanka. These are the consequences of mudslides in Haldummulla, a village in the center of the island. These landslides were caused by several days of heavy rains.More than 150 homes were buried. According to the minister responsible for natural disaster management, 75 children escaped the…
On July 21, 1960 , Sirimavo Bandaranaike was appointed Prime Minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), after winning the legislative elections. She thus becomes the first woman elected to become the head of a government. The post was previously held by her husband, Solomon Bandaranaike, before he was assassinated in 1959. Sirimavo Bandaranaike promises to…
The Tamil diaspora wants to shed light on the circumstances under which the rebellion was crushed in Sri Lanka. Demonstrations took place on Monday in Geneva in front of the United Nations, and in Brussels in front of the European Council. Some Tamils do not hesitate to speak of genocide. “We are just asking the…
Riots have broken out in Sri Lanka in several parts of the country, under tension since the carnage of the Easter attacks. In Kurunegala, about 90 km northeast of the capital Colombo, police arrested a group of men who attacked businesses run by Muslims. It was Monday morning, testimony of a trader: “They came with…
In the aftermath of the bloody attacks in Sri Lanka, condemnations are unanimous across the world. Scott Morrisson, the Australian Prime Minister speaks of an atrocious attack on Christians and the innocent. “ The terrible events that have taken place in your homeland, Sri Lanka, have damaged this beauty, the innocence of human life, and…
In Sri Lanka, the Tamils, mostly located in the north of the country, represent 30% of the population compared to 75% Sinhalese. They are Hindus. And it is to defend the rights of this minority that in 1972, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam took up arms. Their conflict has since left nearly 70,000 dead….
In this small country of 20 million inhabitants, the defense budget reaches 4% of the GDP . This is to say the weight of the civil war on the economy of Sri Lanka. A war officially started in 1983 even if the first violence dates back to 1972. It left 70,000 dead, weighed heavily on…
This day will be remembered by Sri Lankans as the very last battle against the Tamil rebellion. Unspeakable outburst of violence which can still be read on the faces of the soldiers. The most die-hard Tamil Tigers fiercely defended their last square of territory on the island’s northeast coast, sometimes blowing themselves up like suicide…
In Sri Lanka, 100,000 people are displaced by the raging fighting between the army and Tamil rebels. Since Monday, refugees have been flocking, and the United Nations fear that there is a lack of space in the camps. As soon as the government’s ultimatum ended, the army launched the final assault in the north on…
Life is gradually resuming its rights in places of worship in Sri Lanka. The services are celebrated again, for the first time since the attacks of Easter Sunday which mourned Sri Lanka. Around churches, security measures have been tightened. “As Christians, we do not respond to terrorism with terrorism”, explains a faithful. “We must forgive…
Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya was prevented from reaching the perch for nearly an hour by a group of MPs and was only able to access it under the protection of unarmed police and parliamentary assistants. They then had to protect him from throwing books and office supplies thrown by supporters of Mahinda Rajapakse, a…
The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for suicide attacks on churches and luxury hotels on Tuesday that left more than 320 dead and 500 injured on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, some of the deadliest attacks since September 11, 2001. On CCTV footage, we can see the path of one of the suspected…
After more than 35 years of civil war, the Sri Lankans elect their president in peace. Nearly 15 million voters are called to the polls. Two candidates present themselves to them. Former allies in the battle against the Tamil Tigers, President Mahinda Rajapakse and his former head of the Armies, ex General Sarath Fonseka. Mahinda…
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…
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…
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…