Sri Lanka
Aktuelle Einsätze
SLMM
Scandinavian Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (Sonstige)
Beginn: 05/02, zurzeit suspendiert
Link zum Einsatz
Sri Lanka vows to bomb Tigers into peace (05.11.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Sri Lanka's government vowed Monday to continue hitting Tamil Tiger leaders with air strikes as a way of bringing peace to the island, following a raid last week that killed the rebels' political chief. The bullish warning from Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake came as Colombo appeared to be shifting away from its public commitment to a moribund peace process, and toward a belief that it can now win the 35-year-old war.
Sri Lanka rejects UN torture report as violence in the north continues (30.10.2007)
(Quelle: Asia Pacific Daily Report) Sri Lanka's ministry of human rights on Tuesday (October 30) rejected the call for an independent human rights body in the country and denied claims that security troops commit widespread rights abuses as stated in a recently released report by the UN, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Tamil Tigers attack airforce base (22.10.2007)
(Quelle: The Guardian) The Tamil Tigers (LTTE) today launched a coordinated ground and air attack on an airforce base in northern Sri Lanka, killing five servicemen and wounding 22 others, the military said. The rebel group said the ground assault on the base in the north-central district of Anuradhapura by the Black Tigers was the biggest since the unit of suicide fighters was formed 20 years ago.
Sri Lanka on brink of all-out war (16.10.2007)
(Quelle: BBC) The Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels seem to be gearing up for a major confrontation in the north of the country, stoking fears of more civilian casualties and displacement. Despite losing territory in the east earlier this year, the rebels still control a vast swathe of land in the north of the island. Although sporadic fighting has been going on for months, the intensity of the clashes has recently increased. Fighting is currently taking place around Mannar, Vavuniya, Weli Oya and Jaffna - all areas which surround rebel-held territory. There are intermittent battles at sea as well.
Sri Lanka rejects setting up UN rights mission (15.10.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Sri Lanka Saturday categorically rejected the prospect of setting up a resident UN human rights mission in the island. 'We are a government and we have our own constitution. We are not willing to discuss a mission for monitoring purposes, neither we are ready to open up an office,' Sri Lanka's Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told reporters. Samarasinghe made the remarks when addressing a joint press conference with Louise Arbour, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner after the latter ended her four-day visit to the island.
Sri Lanka says Nordic-led ceasefire monitors violated truce terms (05.10.2007)
(Quelle: Asia-Pacific Daily Report) The Sri Lankan government Friday (October 5) accused Nordic-led truce monitors from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) of violating the terms of a 2002 ceasefire agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels after they helped a diplomat from Iceland meet rebel leaders without government permission. … There was no immediate comment available from the SLMM or LTTE.
Sri Lanka bars UN officials from rebel territory (04.10.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Sri Lanka said Thursday it would not allow the United Nation's human rights envoy to visit rebel-held areas in the island's north. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is due in Sri Lanka next week to assess the island's deteriorating rights record, while the UN's top torture investigator, Manfred Novak, is already in the country. But Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said 'neither Novak or Madam Louise Arbour can visit Kilinochchi,' the de facto capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Nineteen killed in clashes in northern Sri Lanka (01.10.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) At least 17 rebels and two soldiers were killed in intermittent clashes in north and eastern Sri Lanka as clashes escalated over the week leaving behind more than 100 dead, military officials said Monday.
Rebels call for peace talks as fighting rages in Sri Lanka (25.09.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have urged the international community to step up pressure on the government to halt military operations against them. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, the call comes as at least 19 rebels were killed and 36 others wounded in heavy fighting in the north of the country. In a statement issued Tuesday, Tamil Tiger guerrillas asked the international community to 'rein in the government in Colombo' and ensure it honors a 2002 truce.
Lanka abuse probe 'set to fail' (19.09.2007)
(Quelle: BBC) A presidential commission in Sri Lanka investigating human rights abuses is in danger of failing, a team of international observers says. The commission is due to complete its work in November. President Mahinda Rajapaksa set it up after a number of bomb blasts and killings. But the observers say that 'no significant progress' has been made by the commission.
Activists want UN rights outpost in Sri Lanka (17.09.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Human rights activists argued on Monday for a United Nations presence in Sri Lanka to stop abuses they said had spiked due to inaction by authorities since the country's peace process broke down last year. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other groups said a U.N. human rights field office could act as a neutral body to record and look into complaints of kidnappings, disappearances and other abuses in the civil war.
Norway says ready to help in Sri Lanka talks (11.09.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Norway said on Tuesday it stood ready at any time to facilitate talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels to help end more than two decades of civil war. 'We are ready as soon as they are ready, but there is no way we can impose any peace in Sri Lanka. We are available and ready (to help),' Norwegian Development Aid Minister Erik Solheim told foreign correspondents at a briefing in the Norwegian capital. Solheim, who brokered a 2002 ceasefire that now lies in tatters, said the parties to the conflict would eventually return to the negotiating table ... .
UN says 3,000 displaced in Sri Lanka's north due to recent fighting (07.09.2007)
(Quelle: Asia-Pacific Daily Report) The UN said Friday (September 7) that more than 3,000 people in Sri Lanka's northwest have been forced to flee their homes over the past week due to fresh fighting between rebel Tamil Tigers and government security troops. … The displacement occurred after the Sri Lankan military launched an offensive in the strategic coastal area of Silvathurai, located some 320 kilometers (198.8 miles) north of the capital, Colombo.
Thousands displaced by military offensive in northwestern Sri Lanka (04.09.2007)
(Quelle: Asian-Pacific Daily Report) Sri Lankan officials said Monday (September 3) that more than 5,000 civilians, mostly minority ethnic Tamils, have been displaced by the latest military offensive in the northwest. According to Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA), most of the displaced have moved further northwards and taken shelter in schools in the area. The displacement occurred after the Sri Lankan military launched an offensive in the strategic coastal area of Silvathurai, located some 320 kilometers (198.8 miles) north of the capital, Colombo.
ICRC to expand mission at border crossing (24.08.2007)
(Quelle: Asia-Pacific Daily Report) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday (August 24) that it would expand its mission at a key crossing point linking government- and rebel-held territory in the country's embattled north. The group says that it will start with the new schedule starting next Monday (August 27) at the Omanthai crossing point in Vavuniya district. The ICRC said that it would expand its mission to five days a week from three, in a move to increase the flow of people and goods in the region.
Sri Lanka all party panel trying to reach compromise formula (15.08.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Sri Lanka's all political party panel would try and reach a compromise formula to end the island's debilitating ethnic separatist armed conflict.
Sri Lankan government rejects UN claims over aid worker safety (10.08.2007)
(Quelle: Eurasianet.org) Sri Lanka's government on Friday (August 10) rejected comments made yesterday (Thursday, August 9) by a UN official who said that the country was one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian aid workers. Sir John Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, made the comments yesterday at the end of a four-day visit to Sri Lanka.
UN urges investigations of deaths and more security for aid workers (07.08.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes has strongly urged Sri Lanka to conclude slow-moving investigations into the year-old killing of 17 humanitarian workers even as humanitarian agencies said security concerns were slowing down aid delivery. Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, also called on the government to give better access for aid workers to communities in need and to ensure the safety of local and foreign humanitarian workers.
Tamil Tiger 'forced recruitment' (30.07.2007)
(Quelle: BBC) Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are accused of forcing young people to join their ranks, ahead of a possible battle with government forces for the north of the country. People in rebel-held Kilinochchi say that Tamil Tigers have introduced a policy of demanding one person from each family.
Bloody mindsets (24.07.2007)
(Quelle: ISN Security Watch) While the Sri Lankan government holds that it has reclaimed, even 'liberated,' the country's east from rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Tigers, who have kept their stronghold in the north, insist they have not lost the war. The reality is that the conflict has simply shifted from the east to the northern Jaffna peninsula, and the coming months will see more bloodshed as both sides step up their war rhetoric, making it clear that peace talks are not on the agenda.
Breakaway rebel will not disarm (20.07.2007)
(Quelle: BBC) The leader of a breakaway Tamil Tiger rebel faction in eastern Sri Lanka says he has no plans to disarm his fighters. Colonel Karuna was speaking to the BBC a day after the government celebrated what it says is the complete capture of the island's east from the Tigers. His decision to split from the rebels is widely seen as having contributed to their defeats in the east. The Tamil Tigers (LTTE) still control large swathes of the island's north where they run a de facto state.
Defiant Tigers cling to last bastion (16.07.2007)
(Quelle: BBC) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels are maintaining a defiant stance, in spite of the government's recent announcement that it had driven them from the east of the country. The rebels still hold a swathe of territory in the north, where they run a civil administration.
Tamil Tiger eastern base 'taken' (11.07.2007)
(Quelle: BBC) The Sri Lankan military say they have taken what they are calling the last Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold in the east of the country. A spokesman said troops had re-taken the rugged area of Thoppigala in the district of Batticaloa, which has been in rebel hands for years.
Foreign ceasefire monitors to remain in Sri Lanka amid ongoing violence (10.07.2007)
(Quelle: Asia-Pacific Daily Report) The foreign truce monitoring group in Sri Lanka said Monday (July 9) that it would continue to do its job despite continuing violations of the Norwegian-brokered 2002 ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Major General Lars Solvberg, the chief of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), told the media in Colombo that the Sri Lankan government and rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) needed the SLMM to continue its mission in the country.
More foreign monitors arrive in Sri Lanka as fighting continues (03.07.2007)
(Quelle: Asia-Pacific Daily Report) Foreign ceasefire monitors in Sri Lanka say that more truce monitors will be arriving in Sri Lanka. The spokesperson of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Thorfinnur Omarsson, says that an additional 10 more monitors will join the group. 'Five of them have already arrived with five more to arrive in the next few days,' Omarsson said. The additions will bring the strength of the group up from 20 to 30 monitors.
Sri Lanka launches airstrikes against Tamil Tiger rebels as donors meet in Norway (26.06.2007)
(Quelle: Asia-Pacific Daily Report) Sri Lanka's air force launched air strikes against rebel Tamil Tiger positions in the country's north and east on Tuesday (June 26) as the country's main foreign aid donors held meetings in Oslo, Norway. According to the Associated Press (AP), Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry said that Sri Lankan planes bombed the eastern Thoppigala jungle area to support ground troops who are attempting to drive the rebels out of their last eastern stronghold.
Sri Lanka warned probe may fail (15.06.2007)
(Quelle: BBC) A panel set up to monitor a Sri Lankan probe into human rights abuses has warned the process will end in failure unless changes are made. The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) is worried about the involvement of the attorney general's department in the inquiry. It has warned there are conflicts of interest by its participation. The government has come under pressure over human rights as the country had slid back into civil war. The report from international experts comes as Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in Geneva defending the country's human rights record.
LTTE: Technologically innovative rebels (05.06.2007)
(Quelle: ISN Security Watch) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers top off their innovations by hijacking a satellite in orbit over the Indian Ocean, sparking fears of a more advanced phase of rebel warfare.
UN Secretary-General voices concern over killing of aid workers (05.06.2007)
(Quelle: Asia-Pacific Daily Report) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that he is concerned about the safety of aid workers in Sri Lanka, following the killings of two Red Cross volunteers over the weekend. 'The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the security of civilians and aid workers in Sri Lanka and reminds all parties in the country that aid workers have a right to protection at all times,' Ban's office said in a statement.
Sporadic clashes after heavy fighting (04.06.2007)
(Quelle: Reliefweb) Sri Lankan government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were engaged in sporadic clashes in the north of the island Monday, the day after fierce battles left scores of fighters dead, official sources said. The latest upsurge in fighting also came ahead of a planned visit to the island Tuesday by key donor Japan's special peace envoy, who will be discussing what future there is for the country's tattered peace process. Violence has been concentrated at front lines in the north that separate a de facto mini-state run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- who have been fighting for a separate homeland for the island's minority ethnic Tamils since 1972 -- and government-held areas.