Tissa Honoured: CPJ introduces 2009 International Press Freedom Awardees

Naziha Réjiba, editor of the Tunisian online news journal Kalima, said she knows what to expect when she returns home—surveillance, harassment, and threats conducted by one the world’s most repressive governments.

“While I’m speaking, many homes of Tunisian journalists are completely surrounded,” Réjiba, one of four recipients of the 2009 International Press Freedom Awards, told reporters at the National Press Club today, describing state surveillance. The Committee to Protect Journalists gives the awards each year to courageous journalists working in dangerous and repressive circumstances.

At today’s press conference, CPJ also introduced awardee Mustafa Haji Abdinur, an Agence France-Presse correspondent and editor-in-chief of Radio Simba in Somalia. Two other CPJ awardees, J.S. Tissainayagam of Sri Lanka and Eynulla Fatullayev of Azerbaijan, were recognized but not present: They are imprisoned in their home countries in retaliation for their work.

The awards be officially bestowed on Tuesday in New York; the awardees are in Washington to meet with elected officials, diplomats, and news media.

Abdinur noted the dangers facing the press in Somali, where 18 journalists have died on duty since 2005. “If a journalist is killed, the news is also killed,” he said, noting that foreign journalists are no longer stationed in the country and domestic reporters are being attacked, killed, or forced into exile. Few reporters are left, and the world knows ever less about the grave crisis there.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon called for the release of the imprisoned journalists Tissainayagam and Fatullayev. “We will make sure their respective governments are aware of our outrage,” he said.

Fatullayev is an investigative journalist whose colleague, editor Elmar Huseynov, was assassinated in 2005. Fatullayev is serving more than eight years on fabricated charges after his reporting on the unsolved Huseynov slaying raised questions about government obstruction.

“His only crime is his journalism,” said Nina Ognianova, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “He is being punished for doing a job that the government has not done: investigating the murder of his editor.”

Tissainayagam, or Tissa as he is known in Sri Lanka, is serving 20 years in prison on terrorism charges based on his journalism. Tissainayagam had written columns documenting human rights and other abuses by Sri Lankan military authorities. The government called it inciting “communal disharmony.

Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene in the case, rectify a miscarriage of justice, and set Tissainayagam free.

© Committee to Protect Journalists

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Global investors target Sri Lanka

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA - The global investor community is keen on exploring opportunities in Sri Lanka as there is a peaceful environment that facilitates growing investor confidence. The next decade would be prosperous for the country as there will be growth potential in its financial market, said Leopard Capital Asia CEO, Douglas Clayton.

Leopard Capital Sri Lanka is a joint venture between Orion Capital Partners in Sri Lanka and Leopard Capital of Hong Kong. It launched a private equity fund to raise US $ 100 million by early next year.

The Fund would nurture the Management Buy Out (MBO) market in Sri Lanka. “There are many companies where the management does not get an opportunity to make the relevant changes to capture growth and enhance shareholders’ value due to lack of capital or shareholder disagreements.

Worldwide, the MBO becomes a solution for such problems and assists good management teams to continue to grow businesses navigating around shareholder issues. In the long term it ensures that companies have longer lifecycles than shareholder groups. MBOs also allow long standing family businesses to avoid decline and demise”, he said.

Leopard Sri Lanka Chairman, Ranjit Fernando said that with the advent of peace in the country it is anticipated that there will be unprecedented growth in the economy.

Many private companies which have traditionally depended on bank funding and retained earnings will be faced with either having to surrender growth opportunities to foreign companies with capital or to conglomerates with capital or else seek capital for expansion.

Leopard Sri Lanka will also assist in supporting this growth capital requirement among mid-sized Sri Lankan companies.

Sri Lanka has a conducive regulatory environment to attract investors. With the introduction of an equity fund of this nature it would help change the corporate landscape.

The Fund will focus on development impact, good governance, scalability of business, quality of management team and transparency in the potential investing companies.

It would invest in tourism, IT, financial services and the retail sectors and would provide capital to enhance business, he said.

Leopard Capital Sri Lanka works in collaboration with international experts in the field of investment management and capital mobilization and a team of Sri Lankan managers who have built a reasonable network in Sri Lanka with insights in to Sri Lankan business. Leopard Capital plans to bring a great deal of international business linkages that will assist Sri Lankan companies to access global markets.

A two-day investor forum will be held from today to showcase the country’s potential growth sectors and entrepreneurship skills to coincide with the launch of Leopard Capital Sri Lanka.

© Ceylon Daily News

Related Links:
Japanese investors show confidence in Sri Lanka - Ceylon Daily News
Sri Lanka can be the “Dubai of South Asia” : SL Minister - Daily Mirror
Sri Lanka market watchdog hosts Singapore investor forum - Lanka Business Online

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UN presses for freedom for Sri Lanka war-displaced

The United Nations on Thursday stepped up pressure on Sri Lanka to free thousands of war-displaced civilians held in state-run internment camps.

"Months after the conflict ended, our main concerns haven't changed. People are still not given free access to leave these camps on their own free will," UN humanitarian chief John Holmes told AFP after a visit to the camps.

Holmes, who ended a three-day visit on Thursday, said some 130,000 men, women and children remained inside the tightly-guarded camps.

More needs to be done to improve their living conditions, the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs added.

"We are very much encouraged by the government's progress to resettle people. There were about 288,000 people in May (when the conflict ended) and now its much less," Holmes said.

He asked the government to allow those returning to their villages a greater say in their resettlement.

"People need to be consulted as much as possible on where they are going, the status of their homes, their livelihoods."

"But I must say that those who have been allowed to return are quite relieved to get out of the camps and rebuild their lives with what little they have."

He inspected demining efforts and visited the Manik Farm area in the island's north where most of the displaced civilians are being held.

He said the government appears to be on track to resettle displaced people by January 2009.

"But we have some doubts. There are bound to be areas where demining is not finished. Our concern is what's going to happen to these people who cant go back to their villages. Where will they stay once the camps are emptied?"

He said some may opt to live in the state-run makeshift shelters until their villagers were cleared of mines.

"In that case, freedom of movement becomes more crucial. People should be free to leave the site for jobs or visit friends and relatives until its safe to return."

During a news conference with Holmes, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama repeated Colombo's promise to allow war-displaced people leave the camps at their will.

The foreign minister did not elaborate, but sought more assistance from the UN to clear mines.

Sri Lanka's military in October estimated that there could be up to 1.5 million mines scattered across the island's north.

In May, Sri Lankan troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels who were fighting for a separate homeland since 1972.

© AFP

Related Links:
UN confirms Tamil camps exodus - BBC News
Sri Lanka Seeks UN Aid as Envoy Visits War Refugees - Bloomberg
Resettlement quickened for Sri Lanka war displaced - eTaiwan News

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Sri Lanka approves $891 mln China loan for coal power

Sri Lanka has approved $891 million loan from China's Export-Import bank to fund a coal power plant, an official said on Thursday, as the island nation focuses on infrastructure after the end of 25 years of war.

China along with India are now increasingly competing to win lucrative and strategic investments in Sri Lanka since the fighting stopped in May.

Both India and China provided military assistance, including ammunition in the final phase of the war, while they also helped President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government to face Western-led criticism of rights abuses.

Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, the cabinet spokesman said the government approved China's offer of the 20-year loan with a 2 percent interest rate and five-year grace period to build the second phases coal-fired power plant in northwestern province.

Sri Lanka and China signed an over $350 million worth deals to build a highway and an oil bunkering facility in August .

© Reuters

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Tissainayagam case: Bail application put off for Monday

By S.S. Selvanayagam - Pending his appeal against the High Court judgment, the Appeal Court yesterday put off for Monday senior journalist J.S. Tissainayagam’s petition requesting bail filed.

The case came up before Justice Sisira de Abrew with counsel Anil Silva with M.A. Sumanthiran, Sharmaine Gunaratne and Suren Fernando appearing for Mr. Tissainayagam.

Mr. Tissainayagam was arrested on March 7, last year and on August 31 he was sentenced to 20 years hard labour on three counts -- conspiring to edit, print and distribute the publication of North Eastern Monthly magazine between June 1, 2006 and June 1, 2007; collecting money to publish the magazine supportive of terrorism and for inciting communal feelings through the articles in the magazine.

He pleaded not guilty at the High Court trial where a document purported to be a confession made by him was used as evidence but Mr. Tissainayagam in his bail application said he did not make such a confession. Mr. Tissainayagam in his bail application that during his youth, he met with an accident which necessitated surgery to his eye and had been diagnosed as having a serious eye ailment called ‘retinal detachment resulting in myopic degeneration’.

He said the physical stress he was undergoing could result in irreversible loss of sight and thus required constant medical care and close monitoring of his eye condition to prevent such a fate.

Mr. Tissainayagam said that although he had filed an appeal, it might not be taken up for hearing about two years due to the backlog of cases and unless he was released on bail pending appeal, any relief that might be granted to him thereafter would be negated in the event of losing his eye sight, due to prolonged incarceration, prolonged stress and inadequate medical facilities.

He also said that apart from this conviction, there had been no other blemish to his character; he has not been convicted of any crimes previously and had at all times acted as a law abiding citizen.

Mr. Tissainayagam said he had canvassed for the rights of many disadvantaged persons(without discrimination, and at times at serious risk to himself), and in these circumstances, there was no fear of his not being present to receive the decision of the appellate court in the case.

© Daily Mirror

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'Crematorium & the King': Govt. employee penalized for telling a joke

A government servant was punished due to a joke regarding the President.

The Samurdhi Officer in Beliatta Divisional Secretarial Office, Mr. D. W. L. Disanayaka has been punished for a joke he had made. There has been a chat among officers in Divisional Secretarial Office regarding the forthcoming President’s arrival on the occasion of a Crematorium in Beliatta area to be declared open. At that moment Mr. Disanayaka has made a joke sstating “The President should be entered in to the Crematorium and it should be switched on in order it to be declared open”.

Based upon this statement the Director General Samurdhi has given him a punishment transfer to Monaragala stating the President has been insulted by the above quote. Mr. Disanayaka has complained about this unfair penalty to the Parliament Ombudsmen of Administrative activities.

The Ombudsmen Dr. Ranaraja has said, "We cannot accept there’s any possibility of harm to the President owing to a joke that has been uttered in a private chat like this," He had further stated ‘taking actions against such statements is very dangerous as we are going to need another ministry for prohibition of jokes adding one more to the list of more than 100 ministries we already have.’

© Lankatruth

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Holmes satisfied with resettlement of IDPs

By Romesh Madushanka -Sir John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, said yesterday he appreciated the Sri Lankan government’s efforts in resettling of a large portion of the earlier held 300,000 internally displaced people in the North.

He had made these comments after visiting the Menik Farm camp at Settikulam in Vavuniya this afternoon

Sir John also visited the Kadirgamar, Arunachalam and Ananada Coomaraswamy relief villages in the North and said he was satisfied with the facilities offered to the people by the government.

He was welcomed by Vavuniya Government Agent P.S.M. Charles and the Vanni Security Forces Commander Kamal Gunaratne.

© Daily Mirror

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Standoff with Sri Lankan asylum seekers ends

Dozens of Sri Lankan asylum seekers on Wednesday left an Australian customs vessel anchored off Indonesia after they were promised they would be resettled, ending a monthlong standoff.

The 46 men, five women and five children were taken from Australia's Oceanic Viking to a detention center on nearby Bintan island off Sumatra, said Sugiyo, the center's head. They joined 22 others who disembarked last week.

The Oceanic Viking rescued the Sri Lankans last month from a wooden boat with a broken engine as it drifted in international waters near Indonesia.

Sujatmiko, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry's director for diplomatic security, told The Associated Press that Australia promised to resettle the asylum seekers. Both Sugiyo and Sujatmiko use only one name, which is common in Indonesia.

Sugiyo said he didn't know how long they would be in the detention center.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the asylum seekers were given no guarantee of resettlement in Australia, however. He said they could be resettled in Canada, New Zealand or a Scandinavian nation.

"They will be offered resettlement in resettlement countries," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Thursday. "There's no guarantee they will come to Australia — that was never part of the offer."

Indonesia has become a major transit point for an increasing number of asylum seekers from war-torn countries like Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq who slip through on their way to Australia.

Indonesia has limited resources and struggles to deal with new arrivals with the assistance of international organizations.

Indonesia, which is not a signatory to the United Nations convention on refugees, is considering deporting about 250 Sri Lankans who arrived on another boat in October. They too were trying to get to Australia.

© Associated Press

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Sri Lanka shares down; poll concerns override rate cut

By Shihar Aneez - Sri Lanka's shares fell on Wednesday, as investors sold shares across the board due to pre-poll uncertainty despite the central bank cut key policy rates to multi-year lows early in the day.

The All-Share Price Index .CSE of the Colombo Stock Exchange closed 0.41 percent or 12.35 points weaker at 2970.90.

"Investors are concerned on the political front as election dates have not yet been announced," Hussain Gani, associate director at Asia Securities, told Reuters.

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday dodged an expected announcement of dates for early presidential and parliamentary elections due by April without giving a reason. [ID:nCOL305387]

Sri Lanka's central bank on Wednesday cut its key policy rates for the sixth time this year to multi-year lows aiming to encourage private-sector borrowing and spur faltering economic growth. [ID:nCOL91110]

The benchmark 91-day treasury bill yield fell 48 basis points to an over five-year low of 7.25 percent at a weekly auction after the rate cut. [ID:nCOL387141]

"The rate cut was not taken by the market due to prevailing political situation," Gani said.

Investor confidence in the island nation's bourse, still one of this year's best-performers in the world with a 97.7 percent year-to-date return, has been on the decline after the government on Oct. 13 announced it will hold elections by April.

It has fallen over 5.1 percent since then.

Shares in Sri Lanka's private lender, Hatton National Bank HNB.CM closed 0.88 percent weaker at 168 rupees.

Turnover was 844.5 million rupees ($7.4 million), more than last year's daily average of 464 million rupees.

Analysts say investors are still wary of a likely loss of a European Union trade concession over a rights abuse probe, protests and trade actions and the arrest of one of Sri Lanka's main investors in a U.S. insider trading case in mid-October.

RUPEE, CALL

Sri Lanka rupee LKR= closed flat at 114.25/30 a dollar. It hit a fresh seven month high of 114.25/30 a dollar on Tuesday, from Monday's close of 114.35/40 as the central bank allowed a controlled rise in the currency. [ID:nCOL63988]

Sri Lanka's 2009 revenue is expected to decline by 13.5 percent or 115 billion rupees ($1 billion) due to the impact of global financial crisis, deputy finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said on Tuesday. [ID:nLH601202]

The interbank lending rate or call money rate CLIBOR edged down to 8.641 percent from Tuesday's 9.197 percent.

© Reuters India

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SRI LANKA: Plans to Release Tamils ‘Nothing But a Political Ploy’

By Feizal Samath - What could be better news for thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils displaced by bloody fighting between government troops and separatist rebels, and huddled in crowded camps with no freedom to move out?

The government announced on Tuesday that it was speeding ahead to complete the process of resettling the displaced in two months. And that was all because of a radical change in the political firmament.

The fear of a formidable candidate in the form of army General Sarath Fonseka—widely credited with leading the army to a historic victory against the badly bruised Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam—pitted against his commander-in-chief, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is setting the stage for a public relations coup, including settling the displaced in their homes before the election.

A presidential poll is likely to be held in January followed by a parliamentary poll. Widespread media reports—neither denied nor confirmed by the General who retired on Monday—that Fonseka would contest the presidency have put the government on the back foot and feverish arrangements are underway for a poll.

"We were (earlier) told between 60 and 70 percent of the displaced would be resettled by January 2010. Now it appears all of them will be out of the camps by January," noted Firzan Hashim, deputy executive director of the Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies, an umbrella group of local and foreign humanitarian non-governmental organisations.

"But while we are happy that they are at last returning to their camps, our fear is they don’t have a livelihood and will be returning to villages where there is a huge military presence," he said. "This could lead to frustration and all kinds of problems."

On Tuesday, a group of Tamil Parliamentarians who visited camps housing more than 100,000 displaced people in northern Vavuniya was told by Basil Rajapaksa, advisor to the President and chair of a Special Task Force spearheading the reconstruction and rehabilitation on the war-torn northern region, that all the displaced would be back in their former homes by January.

"He informed us of this decision when we briefed him on our visit to the camps. We made our observations on the visit," said N. Sri Kanthan, parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which represents the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.

Kanthan and six of his TNA parliamentary colleagues were permitted to visit the displaced on Monday, the first time local parliamentarians were allowed into the camps, access to which had been severely restricted. Camp residents are also denied freedom of movement, including coming out of the camps guarded by the military.

Kanthan said of the more than 200,000 who fled fierce battles between government troops and the rebels who fought in the northern region and swarmed into temporary shelters in March to April 2009, 102,000 residents have been settled, with another 130,000 expected to return to their homes in the next two months.

"We have requested for a long time to visit these camps, and finally this was allowed. We were flown to the area in a government helicopter and also visited resettlement areas. We were impressed and found the military and officials committed to their task," he told IPS.

Government soldiers crushed the rebels in bruising battles in May, including killing the elusive rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his family, ending a 25-year-long armed revolt against the state to push for more autonomy for minority Tamils in areas where they mostly live.

Since then, human rights groups and the international community have accused the government of keeping civilians against their will in camps amidst difficult conditions. The media, however, continues to be shut out of these camps, with a few local and foreign journalists given ‘escorted’ tours.

Sivanathan Kishore, another TNA parliamentarian, who also visited the camps, said the situation has improved tremendously from before. "In May I went alone (because I live in the same area) into the camps, and conditions were appalling. Now there is a major change."

But another TNA parliamentarian, Sivashakthi Ananthan, said he turned down the invitation to visit the camps, as it was a conducted tour and not free access as claimed.

"We had informed the military that we would be driving in our own vehicles, but the government insisted that we go in a government helicopter to the camps. Why should we go in a government helicopter to visit our own people?" he asked in a telephone interview.

A Tamil journalist, who declined to be named, labeled Monday’s exercise a public relations one, since it was held a day before the United Nations top humanitarian official arrived in Colombo on Tuesday. He added that the planned quick release of the displaced was aimed at soothing the Tamils and winning back their support ahead of the polls.

U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator John Holmes, who has visited Sri Lanka thrice this year, the last being in May, is due to meet the President and visit the camps for the displaced.

The U.N. has repeatedly expressed concern over the continued "detention" of these residents. The government justified this on two grounds—clearing their former homes of mines in a huge de-mining operation and ferreting out suspected Tamil rebel cadres. Nearly 20,000 former rebels have been identified among the displaced and moved to another detention centre and processed for rehabilitation.

On Tuesday, Britain-based Amnesty International said it had launched a week of action from Monday, highlighting the continued detention of thousands of displaced civilians in government camps. In a statement, it said activists in more than 10 countries would take part in the ‘Unlock the Camps’ campaign. Events include a ‘Circle of Hope’ in Canada, a street march and signature campaign in Nepal, a poetry reading in Switzerland and solidarity actions in France, Germany, Mauritius and the United States.

Another opposition legislator, Dr Jayalath Jayawardene, pooh-poohed the attempt to open the camps to parliamentarians. "We have filed an action in the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that our fundamental rights have been violated by not allowing us free and unimpeded access to the camps.

"If the government is allowing member of Parliament access, then why can’t they come and inform the Court?" he asked. "This is just a farce," he said. "Furthermore, they are relaxing these rules now when half the population in the camps have been returned to their homes." "We need free access … not conducted tours," said the Parliament member from the main opposition United National Party.

© Inter Press Service

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