US official visits Sri Lanka as IMF loan is released

(July 24, 2009 - Lanka Polity) Immediately after the IMF emergency loan was approved for Sri Lanka, the newly appointed United States Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, Eric P. Schwartz is to arrive arrive in Sri Lanka tomorrow (25), US Embassy in Colombo announced. US was earlier accused of delaying the loan for Sri Lanka.


Schwartz has worked with Sri Lanka earlier as UN Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery from 2005 to 2007. 

He is scheduled to visit the IDP camps in the North and will meet with senior government officials and civil society representatives.

This tour is significant as Sri Lanka looks improving its diplomatic ties with US and the West that are worried about the developing close ties of the island nation with China.

Mercy Mission arrives in Cape Colorado instead of Captain Ali

(July 07, 2009) The load of relief items collected by Tamil Diaspora in UK in April in the name Mercy Mission to be dispatched defiantly to the civilians that were trapped in a Sri Lanka government designated no-fire zone prior to the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), is finally arriving in Sri Lanka today in a ship named Cape Colorado instead of the Captain Ali that languished for months near Colombo and Chennai ports seeking permission to be unloaded.

The Tamil Diaspora now seems less interested in the welfare of the internally displaced people who are now held in government run camps amidst severe hardships and they have focused their attention in setting up of a Transnational Self-governance for the Ealam Tamils. The separatist Ealam movement has lost ground in Sri Lanka amidst the severe suppressive measures of the government to crack down on the LTTE remnents.

However, the 27 container load weighing 884 tons of relief items will be vital for the Tamil IDPs to ease their hardships at least a little. Proud Sri Lanka government rejected these relief items but later agreed to accept it under the influence of India.