COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is marking the eighth anniversary of the end of its bloody civil war with much of the legacy and divisions created by more than a quarter-century of violence still intact.
Families are still looking for their missing relatives, others demanding their land back from military occupation, fishermen asking for sea access blocked by the navy, widows heading families and handicapped persons are struggling without jobs.
Tamil lawmaker Abraham Sumanthiran says “a sense of uncertainty is hanging over the people.”
Sumanthiran comes from the principle political party representing minority Tamils. Ethnic Tamils on Thursday lit lamps and displayed photos framed in flowers of relatives killed in the war.
A Sri Lankan court barred activists from holding a commemoration near a monument to Tamils killed in the fighting, but other memorials were carried out unhindered in many parts of the country’s north and east.
C.V. Wigneswaran, chief minister of the Tamil-majority northern province, lit a commemorative fire in Mullivaikkal beach where tens of thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed in the last days of the fighting.
It was here that the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels mounted their last stand against advancing government troops in May 2009.
Wigneswaran said a disproportionate number of soldiers are still stationed in the former war zone.
“Even after eight years since the war’s end and with no reports of any kind of political violence during this period, some 150,000 soldiers are kept in the northern province,” Wigneswaran said.
He accused the soldiers of taking over residents’ farmlands and homes and starting up businesses that have unfairly competed with Tamil-owned firms and cost people their jobs.
“In truth the army, navy and the air force have no business here,” Wigneswaran said.
The opposition leader of Sri Lanka’s Parliament, Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, said that details of the war largely hidden from the world must be revealed.
The government evicted international aid workers and blocked independent media from the war zone when the war escalated, making it impossible to arrive at a clear death toll.
Ethnic Tamil civilians for five years after the war ended were denied the right to publicly remember those who died. People who defied the prohibition were arrested and harassed by the military and police.
However, the defeat of strongman President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2015 election brought some freedoms. The new government has insisted that it will not allow dead Tamil Tiger rebels to be memorialized.
According to a UN report, some 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months of the fighting in a war.
In Colombo, President Maithripala Sirisena was planning to lay a wreath at a memorial for fallen soldiers to mark the end of the civil war.
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Sri Lanka marks eight years since end of civil war
Sri Lanka marks eight years since end of civil war
Somalia’s capital votes in first step toward restoring universal suffrage
MOGADISHU: Residents of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu will vote on Thursday in municipal elections meant to pave the way for the East African country’s first direct national polls in more than half a century.
With the exception of votes in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and the breakaway region of Somaliland, Somalia last held direct elections in 1969, months before military general, Mohamed Siad Barre, took power in a coup.
After years of civil war that followed Barre’s fall in 1991, indirect elections were introduced in 2004. The idea was to promote consensus among rival clans in the face of an Islamist insurgency, although some Somalis say politicians prefer indirect elections because they create opportunities for corruption.
Under the system, clan representatives elect lawmakers, who then choose the president. The president, in turn, has been responsible for appointing Mogadishu’s mayor.
The vote in Mogadishu, a city of some 3 million people where security conditions have improved in recent years despite continuing attacks by Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabab militants, is seen as a test run for direct elections at the national level.
Around 1,605 candidates are running on Thursday for 390 posts in Mogadishu’s district councils, said Abdishakur Abib Hayir, a member of the National Electoral Commission. Council members will then choose a mayor.
“It shows Somalia is standing on its feet and moving forward,” Hayir told Reuters. “After the local election, elections can and will take place in the entire country.”
A 2024 law restored universal suffrage ahead of federal elections expected next year. However, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud reached a deal in August with some opposition leaders stipulating that while lawmakers would be directly elected in 2026, the president would still be chosen by parliament.
Opposition parties have argued the rapid introduction of a new electoral system would benefit Mohamud’s re-election prospects.
They also question whether the country is safe enough for mass voting given Al-Shabab’s control over vast areas of the countryside and regular strikes on major population centers.
With the exception of votes in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and the breakaway region of Somaliland, Somalia last held direct elections in 1969, months before military general, Mohamed Siad Barre, took power in a coup.
After years of civil war that followed Barre’s fall in 1991, indirect elections were introduced in 2004. The idea was to promote consensus among rival clans in the face of an Islamist insurgency, although some Somalis say politicians prefer indirect elections because they create opportunities for corruption.
Under the system, clan representatives elect lawmakers, who then choose the president. The president, in turn, has been responsible for appointing Mogadishu’s mayor.
The vote in Mogadishu, a city of some 3 million people where security conditions have improved in recent years despite continuing attacks by Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabab militants, is seen as a test run for direct elections at the national level.
Around 1,605 candidates are running on Thursday for 390 posts in Mogadishu’s district councils, said Abdishakur Abib Hayir, a member of the National Electoral Commission. Council members will then choose a mayor.
“It shows Somalia is standing on its feet and moving forward,” Hayir told Reuters. “After the local election, elections can and will take place in the entire country.”
A 2024 law restored universal suffrage ahead of federal elections expected next year. However, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud reached a deal in August with some opposition leaders stipulating that while lawmakers would be directly elected in 2026, the president would still be chosen by parliament.
Opposition parties have argued the rapid introduction of a new electoral system would benefit Mohamud’s re-election prospects.
They also question whether the country is safe enough for mass voting given Al-Shabab’s control over vast areas of the countryside and regular strikes on major population centers.
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