And We Said Nothing

Civil war over as Sri Lanka crushes rebels
May 21, 2009 1:41 pm admin frontpage, news

by Keith Richmond

THE 26-year-long civil war in Sri Lanka is over after government troops flushed out and killed the remaining Tamil Tiger rebels trapped in a small strip of jungle in the north of the country.

Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was one of those killed, along with two of his closest aides.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared victory in a war – which has left more than 70,000 people dead – the day after Sri Lankan television broadcast pictures of a body said to be that of Prabhakaran.

He said: “We have been able to liberate the entire country from the clutches of terrorism. We have been able to defeat one of the most heinous terrorist groups in the world.”

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting since 1983 to set up an independent Tamil state arguing that, since Ceylon became independent in 1948, the Tamils had been discriminated against by successive majority Sinhalese governments.

They enjoyed initial success, and popular local support, but when the 2002 ceasefire broke down at the beginning of last year, the government decided to seek a military solution.

More than 50,000 troops, with the support of heavy artillery and helicopter gunships, steadily pushed the rebels back and captured Kilinochchi, the Tigers’ capital, in January.

Although Tamil spokesmen have denied that the Tigers’ leader is dead, that appears extremely unlikely.

The big question now is what the government will offer the Tamils to convince them they have a part to play in Sri Lanka.