The EU, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and six US Senators have called for a cease-fire to the conflict in Sri Lanka. A cease-fire is expected to provide an opportunity to evacuate the civilians held hostage as a human shield by the LTTE. Since this suggestion has originated from responsible sources with authority, it is necessary to explore whether a cease-fire would in fact save the civilians given the particularities of the context, namely, that they are being held hostage for the specific purpose of providing protection as a "human shield" for the LTTE.

By Scott McDonald

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – An exodus of civilians fleeing the fighting in northern Sri Lanka has picked up, with more than 1,500 escaping in the last day, the government said Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of terrified civilians are trapped in a sliver of jungle and beach along the island's northeast coast where government troops are battling to dislodge remnants of the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels.

By Sandun A Jaysekera 

The government yesterday challenged the International Community which is calling for a  ceasefire and talks with the LTTE to disclose its strategy if its armed forces cornered terrorists like Bin Laden, Mullah Mohamed or the Taliban.

President Donates his April salary 

Irangika Range  

Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said that Rs.11.4 million has been donated within 10 minutes for the Colombo-Jaffna railway track extension project which was launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday.

As the army advances into long held LTTE territory, the government has found ample evidence of how foreign aid groups (NGOs, non-governmental organizations) had become part of the LTTE war effort, while pretending to be neutral providers of humanitarian aid. The government accuses the NGOs of continuing that effort by falsely accusing the army of deliberately targeting civilians in the final battle with the LTTE. The government believes many of the NGOs hired LTTE members, and allowed the local NGO operations to be taken over by the rebels. Had the NGOs not allowed this, they would have been expelled from LTTE territory and lost business (NGOs survive by supervising the distribution of aid provided by donors, usually national governments and foundations.)

A veteran Sri Lankan monitor, Lord Naseby sees an end in sight to the country’s bitter ethnic strife – even if a worrying number of civilians remain trapped in the northern conflict zone. 

I have known Sri Lanka since 1963 when I worked there. The purpose of my visit in January was to assess the political situation and to do some private touring to revisit places I had not seen for 45 years.

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Initiative includes pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance 

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has summoned a meeting of all political parties, including the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA), on March 26 for an interaction “on the prevailing political situation”.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, announcing the extension of the Colombo – Jaffna Railway Line, and the resumption of the Yal Devi Express train service, said that he had asked the Minister of Transport to run the Yal Devi train at least five more kilometres beyond Vavuniya and consolidate the nation’s resolve that our war heroes have shown.

COLOMBO (IRIN) - Thousands of civilians escaped fighting in the north over the weekend, according to official sources, as the UN warned of deteriorating conditions for those still trapped in the combat zone.

By Scott McDonald  

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka's military on Tuesday accused "a vicious coalition" of international aid groups of harboring terrorists and seeking to prolong the island's civil war for economic gain. 

The military has come under increasing international criticism as it pushes to end the decades-old war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who are pinned in a shrinking war zone in the island's northeast.

By Easwaran Rutnam  

Most member states at the United Nations are against any move which will give the LTTE a lifeline while it continues to hold civilians as human shields, diplomatic sources at the UN told Daily Mirror yesterday.

Sri Lanka will host an international telecom forum of network standardization in April together with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Union (CTO), Telecommunications Regulatory Commission director General said.

In 2006, a haughty LTTE turned its back on a delegation the government sent to Geneva to have talks with the outfit. A few months later, Prabhakaran resumed war by launching terror attacks on the armed forces personnel and the police and capturing the Mavil Aru anicut. In his heroes' day speech in November 2005, a few days after the installation of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prabhakaran had promised to plunge the country back into a bloodbath. He kept on claiming until a few months ago that he would turn the tables on the military and achieve his goal of separation in spite of a string of crushing defeats.

The Ambassador / Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka was unanimously chosen as the Coordinator of the Asian Group of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) today, taking over from Indonesia.

Chaminda Perera  

The Grama Niladhari of Oddusudan lost his life when he attempted to enter the cleared area along with his relatives and neighbours after LTTE terrorists started firing at them.

Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process in Sri Lanka and Secretary, Ministry of Human Rights and Disaster Management, Professor Rajiva Wijesinha in an interview with The Sunday Leader attempts to set the record straight in relation to Sri Lanka being accused of war crimes and other violations of human rights. Excerpts:

In a right of Reply exercised by Sri Lanka during the debate under item 4 on Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention at the 10^th Session of the Human Rights Council, on 23 April 2009, Mr. Yasantha Kodagoda, Deputy Solicitor-General, Attorney-General’s Department made  the following statement:

By Kelum Bandara 

The Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Ministry is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NGOs and INGOs to allow them access into welfare camps and villages in Vavuniya and implement humanitarian projects.

At present only UN agencies and the ICRC have been allowed access to these places without restriction.

Colombo (Asiantribune.com): Sri Lanka Government flatly rejected an appeal by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for unconditional talks.

Earlier, B. Nadesan, the Political Commissar of the Tamil Tigers called for an urgent ceasefire, saying the Tigers would enter negotiations with the government "without pre-conditions". He has made this appeal in an interview with the Sunday Times published from the United Kingdom.