Crime wave in Jaffna
Sri Lankan military and the police “have not taken any constructive efforts to curb the incidence of violence and killings in Jaffna” Mr. Rohitha Priyadarsana, Jaffna Co-ordinator for the National Human Rights Commission protested last week.
“Many civilians are forced to live in hiding because of imminent threats to their life and the failure of the security forces to take meaningful steps to curb this trend of violence.”
“Killings, threats to life of social activists and violence that threatens the collective social life of the community are unabatedly increasing in Jaffna in the recent past,” he said, adding twelve killings have occurred in the Jaffna district between 13 September to 14 October.
Four of these killings are reported in the Jaffna Police division, four in Chunnakam and one each in Kopay, Atchuvely, Point Pedro and Nelliyadi.
Armed robberries, gang warfare and sexual molestations are alarmingly on the increase and the Police and Military don’t seem to have taken any effective preventive measures to apprehend the culprits,” he said. “Normal civilian life is under serious threat”.
The Co-ordinator said that he had already submitted a dossier on the crimes to the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and requested that the Inspector General of Police and the military hierarchy be advised to take necessary steps to combat this trend.
Sri Lanka ‘free of bird flu’
Sri Lanka is free of bird flu and the island managed to prevent an outbreak thanks to a strict ban on poultry imports from affected countries that has been enforced since 2003, the industry said on Wednesday.
The All Island Poultry Association said Sri Lanka maintained a ban on chicken products and animal feed from countries listed by the World Health Organisation as affected by avian flu, or the H5N1 strain of the virus.
“We did not lift the ban since 2003 and this helped us to keep away bird flu,” association chairman DD Wanasinghe said.
He said there had been another ban on the import of whole chicken for the past six years as a move to protect the local industry from cheaper imports, but even the import of chicken breast was tightly controlled after 2003.
Wanasinghe said the 35,000 local chicken farmers had already been alerted to look for any signs of bird flu despite the country being declared bird flu free.
Last week, Sri Lanka secured access to a World Health Organisation stockpile of bird flu vaccine in case the virus spread to the Indian Ocean island republic.
Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said there were no reported cases of avian influenza among poultry on the island, but the government alerted veterinarians to look out for any signs of the disease.(AFP)
Kottegoda is Army Chief till 2007
Sri Lanka’s Army Commander, Lieutenant General Shantha Kottegoda, has been given a service extension for two years till June 2007 by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Lt.Gen. Kottegoda was appointed Army Commander in July 2004 and granted one year’s extension, already in November, 2004 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 55.
President Kumaratunga also gave her approval for a proposal to fix the retirement age of Major Generals at 58 from the present 55. It will need Parliamentary approval before it becomes effective.
Kottegoda was part of the government delegation at peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2003.
Lt. Gen. Kottegoda, like his predecessor, is a senior intelligence officer. He was appointed to a special post as Overall Operations Commander (OOC) for the east after the LTTE crushed a renegade commander’s short-lived rebellion in the region.
LTTE officials say that Lt. Gen. Kottegoda had developed a singular rapport with their Batticaloa District commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna), before the latter rebelled against the LTTE.
The British MI5 trained Lt. Gen. Kottegoda in intelligence gathering and analysis in 1991. Following that he was seconded by the military as the head of the ‘Northern Terrorism Desk’ of Sri Lanka’s National Intelligence Bureau (now renamed Directorate of Internal Intelligence).
New ministry for Petroleum exploration
Sri Lankan government has set up a new Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development for developing petroleum resources in the island country, Daily News reported Wednesday.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga will function as the Minister. Former Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy Jaliya Medagama has been appointed Secretary to this Ministry in addition to his duties as Chairman of the Petroleum Corporation, the paper quoted the Presidential Secretariat as saying.
This follows the discovery of potentially commercially viable oil reserves in the coastal belt from Puttalam to Hambantota through international surveys.
Kumaratunga announced recently that the off-shore petroleum deposits will be utilized for the development of all areas of the country.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse too has pledged to make use of this resource to develop all parts of the country.
Locally available oil will enable Sri Lanka to drastically reduce its dependence on imported crude oil, for which the Government spends billions of dollars every year.
The Government also announced plans to build an oil refinery with the capacity to refine 100,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which will cost 795 million US dollars, will be one of the biggest foreign investments in Sri Lanka, according to the paper.(Xinhua)
Brain drain from Sri Lanka – World Bank
Sri Lanka is among countries that see a relatively large proportion of educated people migrating in search of greener pastures, the latest World Bank study on international migration says.
Although the intensity of brain drain changes depending on the measurement criteria, the World Bank report points out that smaller countries are more affected by brain drain when counting the numbers of educated people going abroad.
Over 200,000 Sri Lankans went abroad to work last year and according to the Migrant Services Centre – a local NGO – currently over 1.5 million Sri Lankans are working abroad.
A majority of these workers, are people going to the Middle East for unskilled or semi skilled jobs.
But the numbers of educated people going abroad is also relatively high compared to the size of the island’s educated labour force.
In 2000, out of the top 30, skilled labour providing countries with populations over 5 million, Sri Lanka had an emigration rate of 29.7 percent.
When measured in absolute terms – the total number of educated emigrants - larger countries see a higher number of educated people leaving to work abroad.
But in relative terms - the proportion of the educated labour force - small countries are the most affected by brain drain, says the International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain report.(LBO)
Sri Lankan military and the police “have not taken any constructive efforts to curb the incidence of violence and killings in Jaffna” Mr. Rohitha Priyadarsana, Jaffna Co-ordinator for the National Human Rights Commission protested last week.
“Many civilians are forced to live in hiding because of imminent threats to their life and the failure of the security forces to take meaningful steps to curb this trend of violence.”
“Killings, threats to life of social activists and violence that threatens the collective social life of the community are unabatedly increasing in Jaffna in the recent past,” he said, adding twelve killings have occurred in the Jaffna district between 13 September to 14 October.
Four of these killings are reported in the Jaffna Police division, four in Chunnakam and one each in Kopay, Atchuvely, Point Pedro and Nelliyadi.
Armed robberries, gang warfare and sexual molestations are alarmingly on the increase and the Police and Military don’t seem to have taken any effective preventive measures to apprehend the culprits,” he said. “Normal civilian life is under serious threat”.
The Co-ordinator said that he had already submitted a dossier on the crimes to the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and requested that the Inspector General of Police and the military hierarchy be advised to take necessary steps to combat this trend.
Sri Lanka ‘free of bird flu’
Sri Lanka is free of bird flu and the island managed to prevent an outbreak thanks to a strict ban on poultry imports from affected countries that has been enforced since 2003, the industry said on Wednesday.
The All Island Poultry Association said Sri Lanka maintained a ban on chicken products and animal feed from countries listed by the World Health Organisation as affected by avian flu, or the H5N1 strain of the virus.
“We did not lift the ban since 2003 and this helped us to keep away bird flu,” association chairman DD Wanasinghe said.
He said there had been another ban on the import of whole chicken for the past six years as a move to protect the local industry from cheaper imports, but even the import of chicken breast was tightly controlled after 2003.
Wanasinghe said the 35,000 local chicken farmers had already been alerted to look for any signs of bird flu despite the country being declared bird flu free.
Last week, Sri Lanka secured access to a World Health Organisation stockpile of bird flu vaccine in case the virus spread to the Indian Ocean island republic.
Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said there were no reported cases of avian influenza among poultry on the island, but the government alerted veterinarians to look out for any signs of the disease.(AFP)
Kottegoda is Army Chief till 2007
Sri Lanka’s Army Commander, Lieutenant General Shantha Kottegoda, has been given a service extension for two years till June 2007 by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Lt.Gen. Kottegoda was appointed Army Commander in July 2004 and granted one year’s extension, already in November, 2004 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 55.
President Kumaratunga also gave her approval for a proposal to fix the retirement age of Major Generals at 58 from the present 55. It will need Parliamentary approval before it becomes effective.
Kottegoda was part of the government delegation at peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2003.
Lt. Gen. Kottegoda, like his predecessor, is a senior intelligence officer. He was appointed to a special post as Overall Operations Commander (OOC) for the east after the LTTE crushed a renegade commander’s short-lived rebellion in the region.
LTTE officials say that Lt. Gen. Kottegoda had developed a singular rapport with their Batticaloa District commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna), before the latter rebelled against the LTTE.
The British MI5 trained Lt. Gen. Kottegoda in intelligence gathering and analysis in 1991. Following that he was seconded by the military as the head of the ‘Northern Terrorism Desk’ of Sri Lanka’s National Intelligence Bureau (now renamed Directorate of Internal Intelligence).
New ministry for Petroleum exploration
Sri Lankan government has set up a new Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development for developing petroleum resources in the island country, Daily News reported Wednesday.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga will function as the Minister. Former Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy Jaliya Medagama has been appointed Secretary to this Ministry in addition to his duties as Chairman of the Petroleum Corporation, the paper quoted the Presidential Secretariat as saying.
This follows the discovery of potentially commercially viable oil reserves in the coastal belt from Puttalam to Hambantota through international surveys.
Kumaratunga announced recently that the off-shore petroleum deposits will be utilized for the development of all areas of the country.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse too has pledged to make use of this resource to develop all parts of the country.
Locally available oil will enable Sri Lanka to drastically reduce its dependence on imported crude oil, for which the Government spends billions of dollars every year.
The Government also announced plans to build an oil refinery with the capacity to refine 100,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which will cost 795 million US dollars, will be one of the biggest foreign investments in Sri Lanka, according to the paper.(Xinhua)
Brain drain from Sri Lanka – World Bank
Sri Lanka is among countries that see a relatively large proportion of educated people migrating in search of greener pastures, the latest World Bank study on international migration says.
Although the intensity of brain drain changes depending on the measurement criteria, the World Bank report points out that smaller countries are more affected by brain drain when counting the numbers of educated people going abroad.
Over 200,000 Sri Lankans went abroad to work last year and according to the Migrant Services Centre – a local NGO – currently over 1.5 million Sri Lankans are working abroad.
A majority of these workers, are people going to the Middle East for unskilled or semi skilled jobs.
But the numbers of educated people going abroad is also relatively high compared to the size of the island’s educated labour force.
In 2000, out of the top 30, skilled labour providing countries with populations over 5 million, Sri Lanka had an emigration rate of 29.7 percent.
When measured in absolute terms – the total number of educated emigrants - larger countries see a higher number of educated people leaving to work abroad.
But in relative terms - the proportion of the educated labour force - small countries are the most affected by brain drain, says the International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain report.(LBO)
