Sri Lanka has failed to deliver on its international commitments to prosecute government troops and Tamil rebels for atrocities committed during its ethnic war, a UN expert said Friday. Ben Emmerson said Colombo’s efforts at transitional justice were at a “virtual standstill” eight years after the end of its ethnic war which had claimed over … Read more
Sri Lanka announced Thursday a long-awaited investigation into the massacre of 27 prisoners that became a symbol of the rights abuses allegedly perpetrated by the war-era regime. Inspector-General of Police Pujith Jayasundara ordered the investigation into the 2012 bloodshed, when security forces allegedly gunned down inmates in cold blood. Trouble erupted inside the maximum security … Read more
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena announced his first cabinet reshuffle Monday, switching his finance and foreign ministers as he resists mounting pressure from a breakaway faction in his own party. Sirisena swapped the portfolios held by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a shake up aimed at quelling dissent within the … Read more
Sri Lanka’s President announced Saturday new investigations into alleged secret detention centres as part of a drive to find tens of thousands of people still missing after the country’s decades-long war. Maithripala Sirisena said he would establish a mechanism to search locations where there are reports that people may still be incarcerated after the war, … Read more
Hopes of finding anyone alive under a collapsed mountain of garbage in Sri Lanka’s capital faded Sunday as the death toll reached 21, police said. Hundreds of soldiers were digging through the rubbish and the wreckage of some 145 homes that were destroyed when a side of the 300-foot (90-metre) high dump crashed on Friday. … Read more
At least six people were killed and 10 others injured in Sri Lanka’s capital Friday after a massive rubbish dump buried an estimated 40 homes during the traditional new year. A 12-year-old boy and two teenaged girls died at the Colombo National hospital where 10 others were being treated after they were rescued, hospital spokeswoman … Read more
A Sri Lankan baby elephant gifted to New Zealand has been prevented from leaving the South Asian island after animal activists said it was cruel to separate her from her family. Six-year-old Nandi was bequeathed to former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key by President Maithripala Sirisena at a meeting in Colombo in February 2016 … Read more
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said Wednesday he would not protect anyone guilty of murder during the civil war, flagging arrests for a spate of high-profile crimes allegedly perpetrated by security forces. Sirisena, who has been criticised for failing to establish credible investigations into war-era abuses, said he would not stand by murderers but would … Read more
The UN rights chief on Wednesday condemned Sri Lanka’s persistent failure to probe war-era atrocities, suggesting the government was afraid of punishing soldiers who committed abuses during the conflict. The criticism from Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein is the latest volley in an escalating war of words between the United Nations and Sri Lanka over impunity … Read more
President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in Sri Lanka promising justice for war crimes, breaking from his hawkish predecessor and presenting the island with its first real shot at a lasting peace. But that optimism has been sorely tested as Sirisena, having missed a two-year deadline to investigate war-era abuses, declared he would never prosecute … Read more
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has rejected a fresh appeal from the United Nations to allow international judges to investigate alleged war-era atrocities, vowing to not prosecute soldiers. “I am not going to allow non-governmental organisations to dictate how to run my government. I will not listen to their calls to prosecute my troops,” the … Read more
Attackers opened fire on a prison bus outside Colombo on Monday, killing five prisoners and two armed guards in the worst gang-related violence to hit Sri Lanka in decades. Police said the gunmen sprayed bullets at the bus as it passed through a wooded area near the capital, also wounding four guards. One of the … Read more