AFP – Page 4 – People for Equality and Relief in Lanka

50,000 in London Tamil protest demanding ceasefire

By pearlaction | January 31, 2009 |

[AFP] More than 50,000 demonstrators marched through London in a Tamil rally on Saturday demanding an end to the fighting in Sri Lanka. ADVERTISEMENT “More than 50,000 were at the demonstration,” a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said. “There has been one arrest for possession of an offensive weapon.” The spokesman said the protest was…

EU calls for humanitarian ceasefire in Sri Lanka

By pearlaction | January 29, 2009 |

[AFP] EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel on Thursday called for a ceasfire between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil rebels to allow trapped civilians to flee the combat zone. “This is an escalating humanitarian catastrophe. We are extremely worried about the terrible situation facing people trapped in the fighting,” in the combat zone in the…

Canada ‘deeply concerned’ by Sri Lanka unrest

By pearlaction | January 29, 2009 |

[ AFP ] The government is “deeply concerned” by the ongoing unrest in northeast Sri Lanka, where Sri Lanka troops and Tamil rebels are locked in a fierce conflict, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said. “Recent developments underline the urgent need for progress toward a meaningful and durable political solution,” said Cannon. After months of intense…

Civilians fleeing Sri Lanka fighting have no safe passage: ICRC

By pearlaction | January 16, 2009 |

[AFP] Tens of thousands of people are on the run because of fighting between troops and Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka where civilians have no safe passage, the Red Cross said Friday. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was “extremely concerned” that the warring parties had not agreed on a…

Row over Sri Lanka editor’s murder grows as diplomat censured

By pearlaction | January 14, 2009 |

[AFP] Sri Lanka’s government censured a senior international diplomat after he spoke at the funeral of a newspaper editor whose murder has been blamed on the island’s rulers, officials said Wednesday. German ambassador Jurgen Weerth was ordered to the Colombo foreign office and told of Sri Lanka’s anger over his graveside eulogy for Lasantha Wickrematunga,…