SRI LANKA: War Refugees Stressed by Mass Resettlement

An army-supervised mass resettlement plan underway for more than 100,000 people, displaced by fierce battles with Tamil rebels in eastern Batticaloa district, may be causing new problems for the refugees rather than solving existing ones, say volunteers.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Civil War – Not Quite Cricket Says Amnesty

The delivery is faultless but the government sees it as a 'googly'. Amnesty International (AI), the human rights watchdog, has timed the cricket World Cup series in the West Indies to get thousands of balls, inscribed with the message ‘'Play by the rules,'' sent up to the prosecutors of this country's brutal civil war.

MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Custody of Female Journalist Reeks of Repression

The unjustified four-month incarceration of female journalist Munusamy Parameshwari under anti-terrorist laws is being seen here as an example of the repressiveness that she was reporting on.

SRI LANKA: Civilians – Real Losers in the Civil War

As fighting between Tamil rebels and Sri Lankan forces escalate into open war the losers are civilians, particularly some 200,000 refugees cramped into camps set up in eastern Batticaloa district.

SRI LANKA: Norwegian Truce Dead – All Sides Agree

Five years after the Sri Lankan government signed a Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement (CFA) with Tamil separatist rebels, all actors are now agreed that the document now remains solely on paper.

SRI LANKA: Norwegian Truce Dead – All Sides Agree

Five years after the Sri Lankan government signed a Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement (CFA) with Tamil separatist rebels, all actors are now agreed that the document now remains solely on paper.

SRI LANKA: Donor Threats Unlikely to Stop War Machine

Will the Sri Lankan government forego recent military gains in Tamil rebel-held areas of the island and heed the advice of donors to resume dialogue with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)?

MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Journalists Under Fire and Fleeing

With the simmering conflict between government forces and Tamil rebels threatening to escalate into a full-blown civil war, journalists, unable to function freely and faced with death threats, have begun to flee the country.

SRI LANKA: Tsunami Recovery Skewed by Sectarian Strife

Mohideen Ajeemal is determined to put the dark days of the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami, which claimed two of his children, behind him.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Dim Prospects for Peace in Sri Lanka

If 2006 saw a four-year-old Norwegian-brokered truce between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels falling apart, the prospects for respite from ethnic warfare in the coming year look even bleaker.

SRI LANKA: Tamil Moderates Charge Gov&#39t With Genocide

One of the last public acts of Tamil parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj was to visit the United Nations offices here, along with a few of his colleagues, to seek help in getting the Sri Lankan army to stop indiscriminate attacks on minority Tamil populations in the north and east of the island.

SRI LANKA: Political Consensus Boost for Geneva Talks

As the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse prepares for talks with Tamil Tiger rebels in Geneva on the weekend, it goes in with hands strengthened by a political understanding arrived at with the main opposition United National Party (UNP).

SRI LANKA: Clashes Mar Govt, Tigers&#39 Vow to Talk

Continuous military confrontations and rhetoric have diminished hopes of renewed negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers just days after Norwegian facilitators won assurances from both sides to reopen talks.

SRI LANKA: Delay in Parley Deepens Humanitarian Crisis

As the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels quibble over where and when to hold peace talks, a massive humanitarian crisis is building up in the Jaffna peninsula where half a million people are short of food and fuel and where bombing raids by the air force have been continuing for the fourth day, Friday.

SRI LANKA: Delay in Parley Deepens Humanitarian Crisis

As the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels quibble over where and when to hold peace talks, a massive humanitarian crisis is building up in the Jaffna peninsula where half a million people are short of food and fuel and where bombing raids by the air force have been continuing for the fourth day, Friday.

SRI LANKA: No Unconditional Talks With Tigers – Gov’t

The euphoria was short-lived. On Wednesday, the Sri Lankan government formally shot down hopes for a quick solution to escalating violence on the island by denying statements made by Norwegian mediators that spoke of unconditional talks with Tamil Tiger rebels early October in Oslo to restore the February 2002 ceasefire.

SRI LANKA: No Unconditional Talks With Tigers – Gov&#39t

The euphoria was short-lived. On Wednesday, the Sri Lankan government formally shot down hopes for a quick solution to escalating violence on the island by denying statements made by Norwegian mediators that spoke of unconditional talks with Tamil Tiger rebels early October in Oslo to restore the February 2002 ceasefire.

SRI LANKA: Monitors Accuse Military of Killing Aid Workers

When the Nordic Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) held government troops responsible Wednesday for the cold-blooded executions of 17 workers from a French charity earlier this month, few were surprised.

SRI LANKA: Humanitarian Crisis Building Up in Jaffna

With supplies cut off by two weeks of fierce fighting between Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan armed forces, a massive humanitarian crisis is building up on the Jaffna peninsula according to the Red Cross and other voluntary agencies.

SRI LANKA: Pro-War Monks Turn Peace Rally Into Fracas

When saffron-clad Buddhists monks and Catholic priests and nuns in white are joined by Muslim and Hindu leaders in an interfaith rally for peace, the last thing anyone would expect is that their pacific efforts would end in fisticuffs.

SRI LANKA: Civilians Displaced and Dying in Shadow War

Death hangs over this deserted town in eastern Sri Lanka and the stench of decomposing bodies is overpowering. Most of its 50,000-odd inhabitants have fled and there is no one around to bury the dead.