Posted on 27 January 2010
Tags: guardian.co.uk, news, sri lanka, world news
Incumbent wins first election since Tamil Tigers’ defeat as rival Sarath Fonseka disputes result and says he fears arrest The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, today called for national unity after winning a controversial election, a result immediately contested by his rival creating a tense political standoff in the capital. Even as Rajapaksa was declared the victor with 57.8% of the vote, General Sarath Fonseka, the former head of the army, who received 40%, said he would begin legal proceedings to have the result annulled. Fonseka also accused the government of wanting to kill him by removing his personal security detail.
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Sri Lanka president wins election
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Posted on 24 January 2010
Tags: editorial, sri lanka, The Guardian
• Race between incumbent and former army chief • Tamil minority’s vote key after end of long civil war Sri Lanka will on Tuesday hold its first presidential elections since the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, amid allegations that the ruling party is planning to stir up violence in a desperate attempt to cling on to power. The increasingly bitter election campaign came to an end this weekend with final rallies for the two main candidates, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka, the former head of the army. The two men are widely seen as the chief architects of last year’s victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But since putting an end to one of the world’s longest running insurgencies they have turned on each other in an escalating round of accusations and insults. On Saturday Fonseka warned of vote-rigging and suggested that the army might stage a coup if Rajapaksa loses. “The violence will reduce voter attendance, then the rigging will take place,” he said. A government spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, denied the opposition’s allegation. “They know that there is an imminent defeat and this is their usual excuse to cover up a humiliating defeat,” he told the Associated Press. The run-up to the vote has already been marred by violence. Police say at least four people have been killed and hundreds wounded in clashes between the factions and on Friday the house of an influential opposition figure was bombed
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Sri Lankan presidential election sparks fears of rising violence
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Posted on 14 December 2009
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Sacked commander running for president says three rebel leaders were machine-gunned on minister’s orders Three Tamil Tiger rebel leaders who tried to surrender during the bloody climax of Sri Lanka’s civil war in May were shot and killed on the orders of the country’s defence minister and a senior adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the army commander at the time has claimed. General Sarath Fonseka, who helped direct the final offensive against the Tigers but later broke with the government and is running for president in next month’s elections, said he had been personally unaware of the Tamils’ attempts to give themselves up, which included frantic last-minute appeals for help to a Norwegian minister, diplomats, journalists and UN and Red Cross officials. “Later I learned that Basil [Rajapaska, a senior presidential adviser] had conveyed this information to the defence secretary, Gothabaya Rajapaksa, who in turn spoke with Brigadier Shavendra Silva, commander of the army’s 58th division, giving orders not to accommodate any [Tiger] leaders attempting surrender and that they must all be killed,” Fonseka told the pro-opposition Sunday Leader newspaper in Colombo. Fonseka said Balasingham Nadesan, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s political wing, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, head of the group’s peace secretariat, and a Tiger leader known as Ramesh had been assured through intermediaries by Basil Rajapaksa and Gothabaya Rajapaksa, brothers of the president, that they would be given safe conduct. According to subsequent accounts, the men were advised: “Get a piece of white cloth, put up your hands and walk towards the other side in a non-threatening manner.” “It [the surrender method] was their idea,” Fonseka told the newspaper, referring to Basil and Gothabaya Rajapaksa. When the three men approached government lines some time after midnight on 17 May they walked into a trap, Fonseka suggested. Troops opened fire with machine guns, killing all three and a number of family members
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Sri Lanka accused of killing surrendering Tamil Tigers
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Posted on 05 November 2009
Tags: a-bail-hearing, a-firm-involved, business, computer, emanuel-goffer, feeds, google, guardian.co.uk, hedge funds, intel, investing, management, securities, sri lanka, united-states-
Net widens as authorities investigate case involving billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam Criminal charges have been filed in the US against 14 individuals linked to the alleged insider dealing scheme involving billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, the Sri Lanka-born philanthropist who has been let out on $100m (£60m) bail. Rajaratnam is facing 13 charges of fraud and conspiracy and is accused of making more than $20m through unlawful trades on inside information. He was arrested last month along with five others and is due appear for a bail hearing later today.
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FBI charge 14 over alleged Galleon insider trading
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