5:02 AM

Chief Ministership to be rotated

Eastern Provincial Council Chief Ministership is to be rotated amongst the three community leaders elected recently at the provincial council election.

Just after the elections to the Provincial Council, United Peoples Freedom Alliance which emerged victorious with 18+ 2 bonus = 20 seats out of the total of 37, appointed Chanthirakanthan Sivanesathurai, the Tamil candidate from the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal as Chief Minister of the East.

After a period of two years, he is to be succeeded by Minister M.L.A.M Hisbullah, a Muslim community candidate for the next two years. After Hisbullah, a Sinhalese elected from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party within the UPFA is to be given the Chief Ministership for the balance period of one year.

The issue of Chief Ministership was considererd in the midst of the UPFA as a contentious issue and earlier, Hisbullah demanded that he should be made the Chief Minister as Muslims have won 8 out of the 18 UPFA elected seats.

5:01 AM

Tamil Tigers report the killing of 16 civilians inside Vanni

Tamil Tigers report the killing of 16 civilians inside Vanni, but Sri Lanka Army denies of any involvement. Tigers have continuously blamed the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Military as responsible for numerous such roadside bomb attacks inside areas controlled by them, which however now raises the credibility of such allegations. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam alleged 16 civilians were killed in a roadside claymore attack at 2.00 pm yesterday, at Akkarayan – Murukandy Road in Kilinochchi – (Pix LTTE Peace Secretariat )Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam alleged 16 civilians were killed in a roadside claymore attack at 2.00 pm yesterday, at Akkarayan – Murukandy Road in Kilinochchi – (Pix LTTE Peace Secretariat )

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam a separatist outfit alleged that 16 civilians were killed in a roadside claymore attack by the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka military at 2.00 pm yesterday, at Akkarayan – Murukandy Road in Kilinochchi, an area coming under their control within the Vanni region, located in the Northern province of Sri Lanka.

4:58 AM

Senior U.S. Human Rights Official Visits Sri Lanka

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Erica Barks-Ruggles visited Colombo May 22-24 as part of the U.S. Government’s regular, ongoing consultations with the Sri Lankan Government. During her visit, Ms. Barks-Ruggles met with several senior Government of Sri Lanka officials, including Attorney General C. R. De Silva, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, Justice Secretary Suhada Gamalath and Secretary of Disaster Management and Human Rights P.D. Amarasinghe. She also met with a broad spectrum of political and civil society leaders.

Ms. Barks-Ruggles emphasized the importance of continuing the dialogue between the U.S. and Sri Lanka, which have enjoyed 60 years of unbroken friendship. She commended recent efforts to address some concerns of the U.S. and others on human rights. In particular, Ms. Barks-Ruggles welcomed recent releases of former child soldiers by the TMVP. She urged the government and others working on this problem to maintain this momentum and ensure that all remaining child soldiers are released in the shortest possible time.