This is the first independence anniversary since the end of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels, and he said Sri Lankans had faced not only that internal threat but also external ones. Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.)

The sixty-second anniversary of independence from Britain was marked with lavish military and cultural ceremonies in the hill city of Kandy, once the seat of a Sinhalese kingdom and still the heartland of the ethnic majority.

Understand us

President Rajapaksa said in his speech that the international community should "understand us" and not apply pressure.

In a separate message he appeared to criticise, without naming them, countries such as the United States, Britain and France, which called for a ceasefire just before the armed forces' final crushing of the Tamil Tigers last year.

He said Sri Lankans had been faced not only with an armed enemy within, but also with what he termed outside forces who sought to pressure them into conceding to the aims of those who used terror.

Mr Rajapaksa won a convincing victory in last week's presidential election. But he easily lost the vote in the places where the Tamil minority predominates.

People-oriented devolution

In his speech he was again vague on any political plans he might have, to address many Tamils' desire for more autonomy in such areas, saying only that he would bring "people-oriented devolution" to the whole country.