UN: staff came under fire in Sri Lanka ‘safe zone’

By pearlaction | January 28, 2009 |

[ AP ] Dozens of U.N. workers and their relatives spent a terrifying night huddling in hastily built bunkers as artillery fire pounded a civilian “safe zone” in Sri Lanka’s war-wracked north, according to an internal U.N. memo. The memo, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, said the artillery shells killed nine civilians in a…

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Sri Lanka: continuing conflict sparks UN concern over fate of children

By pearlaction | January 21, 2009 |

[UN News Centre] A senior United Nations official today expressed concern over the fate of thousands of children caught up in the conflict in Sri Lanka pitting Government forces against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said in a press release that…

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Sri Lankan journalist predicted own execution

By pearlaction | January 16, 2009 |

[CNN] A crusading Sri Lankan journalist shot dead last week knew he would be killed — he said so in a dramatic, posthumously published column touching a raw nerve in his war-torn island nation. Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor-in-chief of The Sunday Leader, was gunned down execution-style January 8 but spoke from the grave three days later…

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Fears grow for Sri Lanka Civilians

By pearlaction | January 14, 2009 |

[Al Jazeera] Aid organisations say a major humanitarian crisis is unfolding in northern Sri Lanka where government forces are engaged in fierce fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels. Around 350,000 Tamil civilians are crammed into the area where fighting is taking place, forcing them to endure heavy bombardments and acute food shortages. Foreign journalists are prevented…

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