JVP rebel MP urges Rajapakse to hold snap general election

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 February 2007, 10:32 GMT]
Nandana Gunatilake, rebel parliamentarian of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), has requested Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to hold a snap general election to parliament. Mr. Gunatilake has been supporting the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government since the party hierarchy removed him from the JVP politburo due to policy differences, media sources said.
Full story >>

Rajapakse to visit Maldives

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 February 2007, 10:30 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse is to pay a two-day official visit to Maldives this week. He is expected to leave for Maldives on February 10 or 11, government sources said.
Full story >>

More UNP defections expected this week

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 10:37 GMT]
Ten more United National Party dissident parliamentarians are expected to cross over to the UPFA-government in the coming days, according to informed political sources in Colombo.
Full story >>

Colombo under tight security on Independence Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 03:56 GMT]
Security has been stepped up further in Colombo city Sunday for the Independence day celebrations. Several hundreds of troops of three armed forces and police personnel have been deployed in Galle Face Green where the 59th Independence Day celebration is to be held Sunday morning, sources said.
Full story >>

Chirac highlights civilian suffering on Sri Lanka's Independence Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 01:35 GMT]
France's President Jacques Chirac, in a message to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on the occasion of the Sri Lanka's Independence Day on February 04, said he wished that a dialogue would start again and that a political solution to the conflict that is tearing Sri Lanka apart would be found. In his message to Mr. Rajapakse, Mr. Chirac noted that "numerous civilians are suffering in a very difficult humanitarian situation," since the fighting resumed beween the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Full story >>

Rajapakse visits Vaharai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 10:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday morning visited Vaharai region together with his Commanders and the Defence Secretary, his brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse. All the mobile phone links in Batticaloa district were disconnected before SLAF helicopters carrying Mr. Rajapakse and his commanders reached Vaharai. The visit, which comes a day before the Sri Lankan Independence Day on Sunday, is to be showcased as a symbol of military victory, before the celebrations in South, that target military recruitment.
Full story >>

107 ministers, deputy ministers in SL cabinet

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 February 2007, 10:34 GMT]
The number of cabinet rank, non-cabinet and deputy ministers in the Sri Lankan government has swelled to 107 with one more non-cabinet minister and a deputy minister took oaths in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapakse at Temple Trees Thursday. The UPFA-government now has 121 members in the 225 seat parliament.
Full story >>

JHU minister takes oath

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2007, 17:47 GMT]
Patali Champika Ranawake, political advisor of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), all monks' party, Thursday took oaths as Minister for Environment in the presence of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse. With him the number of cabinet rank ministers in the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has swelled to 53.
Full story >>

SL parliament to meet on February 6 after new political alignment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 11:31 GMT]
Secretary of the Sri Lankan Parliament is in a dilemma to find office accommodation to 52 ministers in the parliamentary complex. Earlier 24 ministers were provided with office facilities in the parliament complex. Late the number was increased to 38. Now the Sri Lankan authorities have been forced to find office accommodation to cabinet rank 53 ministers. Sri Lanka's parliament is to meet on February 6 after the major cabinet reshuffle carried out last Sunday by SL President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Full story >>

JHU appoints militant leader as parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 06:29 GMT]
Sinhala Ultra Nationalist All Monks party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which is opposed to power-sharing and Norwegian facilitation, Wednesday replaced their National List parliamentarian monk Ven. Omalpe Sobhita Thero with a prominent militant leader of the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT), Patali Champika Ranawaka, paving way for him to assume a cabinet post this week, when the party with 9 parliamentary seats, is expected to join Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's UPFA alliance.
Full story >>

IFJ mounts campaign to free journalist Parameshwary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 12:13 GMT]
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Free Media Movement (FMM) together with other journalists organisations Monday launched an International and national campaign to release journalist Parameshawary who has been detained in Sri Lanka prison for seventy days without trial, civil sources in Colombo said. She was arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) act. The authorities have filed no charges and have failed to establish any links with terrorist activity, the letter of appeal says.


Full story >>

Monks' party to join UPFA government

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 10:36 GMT]
The parliamentary group of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), all monks' party in Sri Lanka parliament is to take a decision late Tuesday on a proposal to join the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UNP) government and accept minister post.
Full story >>

US backs Sri Lanka, urges talks and access for humanitarian agencies

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 January 2007, 14:23 GMT]
The United States, reiterating its strong support for Sri Lanka's efforts "to combat terror," Monday called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's government to also forge a power-sharing proposal as the basis for negotiations with the LTTE. Pointing out development can only take place amid peace, U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake told a meeting of Sri Lanka's donor community that 'transparency, good governance, and respect for human rights and the rule of law are essential preconditions for economic development and indispensable prerequisites for ... a lasting peace." He criticised Sri Lanka's blocking of access to humanitarian agencies in the Northeast.
Full story >>

Development Vision can't exist independent of conflict - World Bank

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 January 2007, 11:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka's inflation, if continued at the current levels of nearly 20 percent, the year 2007 will not be a good year for the economy of the country, warned World Bank's Vice President for the South Asia Region, Praful Patel, in his opening remarks for the 2007 Sri Lanka Development Forum, held at Galle, Monday, at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. "It is the conflict that constrains the country's development and stands in the way of its tremendous potential," Mr. Patel said stressing that a "development vision" cannot exist independently of the conflict.
Full story >>

SL Development Forum begins in Galle under tight security

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 January 2007, 10:08 GMT]
The first day session of the two-day Sri Lanka Development Forum-2007 began Monday morning at Light House Hotel in Galle town, capital of southern province amid tight security. Several hundred police personnel and troops of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) have been deployed in the town and surrounding the venue of the conference. SL President Mahinda Rajapakse declared open the forum.
Full story >>

UNP Chairman tore MoU copy with SLFP into pieces

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 January 2007, 18:21 GMT]
Rukman Senanayake, Chairman of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) at a news briefing held Sunday afternoon publicly tore a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the UNP with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government. He said the MoU with the SLFP is no more in operation.
Full story >>

Number of Cabinet rank ministers swells to 52

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 January 2007, 17:19 GMT]
The number of cabinet rank ministers in United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government of Sri Lanka rose to fifty-two with the swearing in of Amarasiri Dodangoda who took oaths as Minister of Justice before Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse Sunday afternoon, political sources in Colombo said. Fifty-one cabinet rank ministers took oaths Sunday morning in the Presidential Secretariat. 38 parliamentarians have been appointed non-cabinet ministers and 16 deputy ministers. Including the cabinet rank ministers, total number of ministers and deputies in the UPFA government is 103.
Full story >>

Defections annul MoU with SLFP- UNP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 January 2007, 10:16 GMT]
Rukman Senanayake, Chairman of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) has informed the government that the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government will come to end with the accommodation of party dissident group in the cabinet.
Full story >>

UNP dissidents, SLMC join UPFA government, appointed ministers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 January 2007, 09:28 GMT]
The first major cabinet reshuffle of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government took place Sunday morning in the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat. Dissident parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) joined the Sri Lankan government. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) led by Rauff Hakeem also joined the government. UNP dissident Karu Jayasuriya becomes Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister, Milinda Moragoda, the new Minister of Tourism and G.L.Peiris, Minister of Export Promotion and International trade. Mangala Samaraweera loses his Foreign Ministry portfolio. Rohitha Bogollagama has been appointed new Foreign Minister.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka Cabinet reshuffle expected Sunday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 January 2007, 17:04 GMT]
Major cabinet reshuffle of Rajapakse government is scheduled to take place Sunday morning, presidential secretariat media unit said Saturday evening. Number of dissident parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) are to be offered w cabinet rank portfolios and non-cabinet minister posts in the reshuffle, sources said.
Full story >>