Sri Lanka's former army chief General Sarath Fonseka is in army custody, facing a court-martial on charges he conspired against President Mahinda Rajapaksa before unsuccessfully vying for his job in a Jan. 26 poll. Fonseka did gain 40 percent of the vote. But the general was a political neophyte whose backing came from a motley coalition of opposition parties, with little in common other than a desire to beat Rajapaksa. [ full story | comments ]

"This is not an arrest. It is an abduction," a tearful Anoma Fonseka told a news conference at her home in Colombo, the capital. Mrs Fonseka said: "They are accusing him of trying to stage a coup on the day of the election. Our two children and I were with him on that day. There was no coup. This is nonsense." "Please help me. I need to know where he is so that I can at least give him his medicine. He has already missed last night's dose,” she said. “What I want to tell the Government is: 'Just be reasonable. Treat him like a human being.'" [ full story | comments ]

The wife of the arrested former presidential contender, General Sarath Fonseka, says he has been "abducted" and that she has no idea where he is. A tearful Anoma Fonseka demanded access to her husband saying she needs to hand over essential medication to him. [ full story | comments ]

The Military police last night arrested former army commander and defeated opposition presidential candidate, Gen (Retd) Sarath Fonseka, over his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow the government and assassinate the incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Military spokesman Major General Prasad Samarasinghe and Director General of Media Center of National Security Lakshman Hulugalle last night said that the former army commander had been arrested by the military police and he would be produced before a military court of inquiry. [ full story | comments ]

Responding to questions from journalists today, a spokesperson for Mr. Ban noted that “the peaceful conduct of the first post-conflict national election and its aftermath is of the highest importance for long term peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.” The Secretary-General is also urging Sri Lankans to adhere to the electoral laws and to avoid provocative acts, not only in the election period, but also during the post-election stage. [ full story | comments ]

The United States on Monday voiced concern about Sri Lanka's arrest of the defeated opposition presidential candidate, fearing it would worsen divisions as the island recovers from war. "We are following the situation closely and we have concerns that any action be in accord with Sri Lankan law," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told AFP. "There is a tremendous need for the government of Sri Lanka to work to overcome the fissures that exist within its society," he said. "It has to be very cautious that any actions it takes are designed to heal the split within Sri Lankan society, not to exacerbate it," he said. [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lanka's former military commander says that he is prepared to give evidence in an international court on war crime charges against Sri Lanka. General Sarath Fonseka speaking to journalists in Colombo on Monday said, "I am not going to save anyone who has committed war crimes". International human rights organisations as well as the US state department has alleged that the Sri Lankan government committed war crimes during the final phase of the war against Tamil Tigers. Several human rights organisations have called to try the Sri Lankan state in international courts on alleged abuses against civilians and surrendees. [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lankans witnessed one of the country’s most contentious elections ever when President Mahinda Rajapaksa staved off the challenge posed by his former Army commander, Sarath Fonseka, and clinched more than 1.8 million majority votes during the Jan. 26 poll. Both presidential contenders gained popularity after the Sri Lankan military successfully wiped out the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last May, ending a civil war that spanned more than two decades and cost over 70,000 lives. Rajapaksa’s new term, set to begin this November, will be full of challenges, as the charismatic leader tries to grapple with the economy and fast-track development. He has promised to develop the war-ravaged north and open a dialogue with minority Tamil political parties, promising to seek a political solution to their long-running grievances. [ full story | comments ]

The government has decided to meet the UN Human Rights Council Chief Navaneethan Pillai in Geneva tomorrow in order to counter allegations raised by former Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka regarding the final stages of the conflict. Officials at the Human Rights Ministry told Daily Mirror Online that Minister Mahinda Samarasingha along with Attorney General Mohan Peiris left the island for Geneva today and would meet Ms. Pillai tomorrow. Minister Samarasingha and AG Peiris will also meet United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres to discuss the allegations by the General. [ full story | comments ]

"The biggest areas that were solid for Fonseka were in the north and the east (where Tamils are predominant) and in Colombo," a locally based source told The Straits Times. "So these are the areas that Rajapakse is not particularly favourable towards and there is a big question mark on how much he's going to be interested in reconciliation." The signs so far are not good. An early indicator is the purge now under way of senior military and police officers seen as having favoured Gen Fonseka or having too rigorously enforced election laws. [ full story | comments ]

Gazprom, a Russian oil firm, has held discussions with visiting Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa on exploring for oil off the coast of the Indian Ocean island. Alexey Miller, chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee, had met President Rajapaksa Monday, the oil firm said in a statement. "The parties discussed prospects for Russian-Sri Lankan cooperation in the oil and gas sector. "In particular, they focused on Gazprom’s possible participation in the development of offshore hydrocarbon deposits in Sri Lanka." [ full story | comments ]

Sri Lanka's government on Tuesday said defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka was "hell-bent" on betrayal and would be court-martialed on charges of conspiring against the president. Under Sri Lankan military law, the armed forces can arrest and try personnel who have left service for up to six months after their departure, defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told a press conference."To all of us it is evident that this is a government which is not simply dictatorial but fascist and they are all out to humiliate him, harass him and go on a journey of vendetta," Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem told reporters. [ full story | comments ]

The arrest of retired General Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s former Chief of Army Staff and opposition political candidate in Sri Lanka’s recently held Presidential Election, escalates post-election repression, Amnesty International said today. "Sarath Fonseka's arrest continues the Rajapaksa government's post election crackdown on political opposition,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director. “After the military defeat of the LTTE and a major election victory, President Rajapaksa should steer the country toward a better human rights record. Instead, we're seeing less and less tolerance for criticism.” [ full story | comments ]

It was around July 1995 that Thavam Sinathampy first fled with his family from the front lines of Sri Lanka's civil war. With shrapnel tearing a 10cm chunk of flesh from Mr Sinathampy's shoulder, he set off with his wife and three children from their village in a remote area of the Jaffna peninsula at the northern end of Sri Lanka. In the following years they were displaced another 16 times. Their ordeal only ended in October, when the government let them return to their original property in Jaffna. [ full story | comments ]

Gideon Sarig refused to apply for the licence as he arranged for Uzis, pump-action shotguns, bombs and other weapons to be sent to countries including Sri Lanka and Israel. Sarig used contacts arranged by his co-defendant Howard Freckleton to sell the military and paramilitary kit to Sri Lanka's military during its ''long, protracted and bloody civil war'' with the Tamil Tigers, Southwark Crown Court in London heard. Judge James Wadsworth QC told Sarig the jury unanimously found him guilty of trading ''large amounts of ammunition for totally war-like, destructive and death-dealing use'' without a UK licence. [ full story | comments ]

The defeated candidate in Sri Lanka's presidential election, Gen Sarath Fonseka, has been arrested, news reports have said. Gen Fonseka was defeated by incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa last month by six million votes to four million. Gen Fonseka rejected the results and vowed to challenge them in court. The government has been seeking legal advice to bring a court martial against the general on charges of plotting to overthrow the administration. Gen Fonseka, Sri Lanka's former army commander, was arrested at his office on Monday night. [ full story | comments ]

Nearly a decade ago, professor Adele Barker and her son Noah came to Sri Lanka from Tucson, Arizona, to the island. Settling into its verdant central highlands, she says, they spent the next year "immersing themselves in the customs, cultures, and landscapes of Sri Lanka -- its elephants, birds, and monkeys; its hot curries and sweet mangoes; the cacophony of its markets; the resonant evening chants from its temples." They would also encounter there a world infused with the religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and missionary Christianity -- and with the troubled history of sectarian violence that had culminated in a 25-year civil war, one of the bloodiest such wars in our times. [ full story | comments ]

The widespread systematic pattern of crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state against Tamil civilians, particularly during the first five months of 2009 in the Northeast province, constitute violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, legal scholars have said. During this period, indifference exhibited by the international community, including the United Nations, led to the deaths of more than 30,000 Tamils. The strong transnational expatriate Tamil community now has the burden (a) to prevent Sri Lanka from erasing the massacres from historical record, (b) to resist attempts by international powers to persuade Tamils for reconciliation without establishing justice and accountability for the crimes, and (c)to seek justice for tens of thousands of Tamil victims by charging Sri Lanka of war crimes and genocide against Tamils in world courts. [ full story | comments ]

Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna officials are attempting to close the files of persons reported missing in the period after 11 August 2006 claiming that the missing persons had gone abroad, the families who had made the complaints said. While Sri Lanka government continues to maintain that persons reported missing after arrest by its armed forces have left the country the action taken by Jaffna HRC officials seems to strengthen government’s stand, they further complained. [ full story | comments ]

Somebody once said democracy is the right to choose your dictator. For the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Presidential election in late January presented such a baffling dilemma. Should they vote for the man who ordered a bloody war on their homeland or for the military general who actually led the troops into their fields? In the end, most Tamils stayed home on the poll day unable to fathom who was the lesser evil. At the peak of his power now, Rajapaksa has no political compulsion to listen to them. He has defeated the LTTE, won the executive presidency without the Tamil vote and has won international support, overt or tacit, for his military solution. [ full story | comments ]