Deng Shasha 

COLOMBO, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse here Monday warned the Tamil Tiger rebels that they would face a proscription unless they released all civilians who are kept against their will. 

Rajapakse warned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels that they ought to allow freedom of movement to all Tamil civilians.

Brussels, 18 December 2008  

On the occasion of International Migrants Day, Radio 1812 invites you to listen to a special interview (in English) with Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam from Sri Lanka. He is a member of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers and its former Chair. In the interview, Mr. Kariyawasam argues for the ratification of the Migrant Workers Convention and the need to use a rights-based approach when developing and implementing migration policies.

The interview  is  available on  the  Radio 1812  site and can be listened to  and downloaded by clicking here: Courtesy: Radio 1812

Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam is presently the Additional Secretary in charge of Multilateral Affairs, South Asia and SAARC Divisions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and the former Ambassador and the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva and New York.  

As the Security Forces progress in their efforts to regain control of the Northern Province, an increasing number of civilians are seeking refuge with the Government. The figure is rather lower than was hoped for, because people who want to move out from the conflict areas must defy the LTTE, but their restrictions are expected to be harder to enforce as time goes on. Representatives from the Peace Secretariat and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights visited the welfare centres set up to receive these civilians on December 8th and 9th in order to assess the situation and identify opportunities to accelerate the process of their getting back to normal life.

V Sudarshan 

First Published : 19 Dec 2008 04:31:00 AM

ISTLast Updated : 19 Dec 2008 04:09:49 PM IST 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa met The New Indian Express at the President’s House at the old Colombo Fort over breakfast on Thursday. The interaction was briefly interrupted when the President went for the swearing-in of Mohan Peiris as attorney- general, but continued in his ground floor office.