Solheim meets SL President Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2006, 18:34 GMT]
Mr. Erik Solheim, Norwegian International Development Minister, arrived at Katunayake International Airport Friday 6. a.m and met with Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse at 11:00 a.m,. Mr. Solheim proceeded to India Friday around 6 p.m, where he will be meeting the Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, sources in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka gambles on EU ban taming Tigers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse this week hailed the expected proscription of the Liberation Tigers by the European Union next week, saying it would compel the LTTE to the negotiating table and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera called on Middle Eastern countries to also proscribe the LTTE. But the LTTE warns that further proscriptions will precipitate the objective conditions for renewed war.
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SLFP stopped from joining protest against BBC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has sent a directive to the London based Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) officials not to participate in the Monday demonstration in front of the BBC world service offices in UK, party officials said. Sri Lanka media had previously accused BBC of biased coverage, for inflating the number of refugees displaced by the bombing campaign by Sri Lanka Air Force in Sampoor area on the 25 and 26th of April.
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Rajapakse begins Pakistan visit

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2006, 22:54 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse begins his official three-day visit to Pakistan Friday. This is his second State visit since he assumed duties as President in November 2005. SL Ministers including Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Susil Premajayanth, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Jeyaraj Fernadopulle, A.L.M Athaullah, Douglas Devananda, Abdul Risath Bathiyutheen and Cegu Issadean will accompany Rajapakse, informed sources said.
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Provocations and smear campaign cast peace doubts - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:36 GMT]
The vitriolic language increasingly being used by the Rajapakse administration against the LTTE and the concerted smear campaign it has launched against the Tigers casts doubts on Sri Lanka’s commitment to the peace process, the Tamil Guardian argues in its latest editorial. “Protagonists who wish to strike peace deals seek to deescalate tensions, build mutual trust and demonstrate goodwill so as to make securing an agreement more likely. But the Rajapakse administration is doing the exact reverse of that,” the expatriate fortnightly said.
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SLMM repudiates SL minister's claim on paramilitaries

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 09:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on being interviewed by BBC in London, told that Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) report had proved there were no armed groups operating in government controlled areas, reported Daily Mirror, a Sri Lanka English daily Tuesday. The minister's claim was rejected by the SLMM, added the daily.
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Samaraweera leaves for Europe

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 March 2006, 02:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Mr Mangala Samaraweera, left Colombo Thursday on an official visit to UK, France and Belgium accompanied by Dr Jayantha Dhanapala, Senior Advisor to Sri Lanka President, and senior officials of the Foreign Ministry, a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo said. Mr Samaraweera is scheduled to meet his counterparts, Jack Straw and Phillippe Douste-Blazy during his visit, the release further said.
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New Ambassadors present credentials to SL President

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 March 2006, 12:29 GMT]
New Ambassadors from Colombia, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, State of Palestine and Panama presented their credentials to Sri Lanka's President Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa at Presidential Secretariat Wednesday morning, diplomatic sources in Colombo said.


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Harvard experts too pro-Tiger, too liberal, says Govt. paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 February 2006, 20:19 GMT]
"It [Sri Lanka Government Peace Team] learnt that two Harvard specialists who were coaching the peace team on some aspects of conflict resolution, for instance, were thought of as being too liberal and possibly too pro Tiger in their views," said Sri Lanka's state-run paper Sunday Observer in its latest edition. The paper also quoted a source close to the consultation process as saying, "Harvard and other institutions of repute, may wittingly or otherwise place Sri Lankan strategy in channels that could be available to the Tigers."
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Profiles of TRO abductees released

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 18:54 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Friday, released the family background and employment details of the seven employees abducted during the week of January 30, allegedly by paramilitaries, and still being held in captivity.
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TRO expresses dismay, concern over Govt. allegations of non-cooperation

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 13:28 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) expressed "dismay and concern" over allegations made to the media by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, and Cabinet spokesperson Priyadharsana Yapa, that TRO was not helping with ongoing investigations. TRO refuted these statements as politically motivated propaganda by the Sri Lanka Government aimed at discrediting the TRO, TRO officials told TamilNet. TRO said in a press release issued Friday from Colombo that it is fully cooperating with the investigations, and has provided detailed account of the actions taken by TRO from the time of abductions.
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GoSL delegation announced for Geneva talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2006, 11:14 GMT]
The Sri Lankan delegation to the talks in Geneva would comprise of SL Ministers Nimal Sripala De Silva, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and Rohitha Bogollagama, said Sri Lanka's cabinet spokesman, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, on Thursday, sources in Colombo said. Talks in Geneva between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are scheduled for 22-23rd February.
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Released TRO abductees detained at Batticaloa Police Station

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 04:55 GMT]
The two female staff of Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), who were released on Monday by the abductors, are being held at Batticaloa Police station from 2.00 p.m. Thursday, TRO officials in Colombo said. When the two women, against threats to their safety, went to file a police report at the insistence of Government authorities, they were detained at the Batticaloa Police Station overnight against their wishes, and they are to be held at the Police station until officials of Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Division (CID) arrive from Colombo, said TRO in a press release issued Friday.
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SL Foreign Minister meets US Secretary of State Rice

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 January 2006, 11:33 GMT]
"Minister Samaraweera, who noted that Sri Lanka was Asia’s oldest democracy, thanked the US Government for the pro-active role it had played to support the peace process. He stressed that the solution the Government of Sri Lanka envisaged is one that is based on democracy, human rights and pluralism," a press release issued by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington said, referring to a meeting of Minister Samaraweera with US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice Thursday.


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Rajapakse concludes visit to India

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 December 2005, 10:29 GMT]
The Prime Minister of India and the President of Sri Lanka reached bilateral understanding on identifying joint ventures, amongst others, for the development of the eastern port city of Trincomalee, and its surrounding region, according to the Joint Statement. Both countries are to prepare a Master Plan for realizing the project, the statement said. The statement stressed the importance of a negotiated settlement between the parties to the conflict through the internal processes that promote consensus and reconciliation, and said both sides emphasized the need for the strict observance of the ceasefire and immediate resumption of talks aimed at strengthening the ceasefire.
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Rajapakse leaves for India on his first visit abroad

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 13:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, accompanied by his wife Shiranthi Rajapakse, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Ministers Ferial Ashraf,Jeyaraj Fernadopulle and the Secretaries to various Ministries, left for India Tuesday in his first visit abroad at the invitationof the Indian President Abdul Kalam, government sources in Colombo said.


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Ground rules for peace engangement to be clarified during Solheim visit

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 December 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Norwegian Development Minister Erik Solheim is expected to visit Sri Lanka to meet officials of Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam soon. An NTB report filed from Hong Kong on Thursday said that the "ground rules" for the process forward would be decided during this visit.
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Norwegian FM to meet Samaraweera in Hong Kong

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 December 2005, 15:45 GMT]
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is scheduled to meet with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in Hong Kong on Thursday where he is expected to convey the response from Norway to the Government of Sri Lanka on the Norwegian facilitation of the peace process in Sri Lanka. Norway is expected to press for acceptance of certain terms from both parties regarding the talks, the Norwegian news agency, NTB reported Wednesday.
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Akashi to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 December 2005, 13:01 GMT]
Embassy of Japan in Colombo said in a press release issued Tuesday that Mr. Yasushi Akashi, representative of the Government of Japan for Peace-building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka, will visit Sri Lanka from Wednesday to Sunday to discuss the current situation with the Sri Lankan government and other parties concerned.
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India should insist on Federal solution - Indian Tamil Daily

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 December 2005, 03:32 GMT]
"India should not hesitate to impress on Rajapakse Government that resolution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem should be based on a Federal solution,” said Tamil daily Dinamani in a recent editorial commenting on Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s meeting with India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. “India should be cognizant that Tamil national question in Sri Lanka determines the human rights, social justice and political destiny of 3 million Tamils, and that more than 60 million Tamils in TamilNadu have an emotional stake in the issue,” said the daily.
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