Sri+Lanka+Update


 * Sri Lanka Update ** 2/10/09

Warring Factions: the government, dominated by the island’s majority Sinhalese population, against the [|__Liberation Tigers__] of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)—who want a separate Tamil homeland (“Eelam”) in the north-east.

Sri Lanka's [|__civil war__] began in 1983. There was a [|__Norwegian-brokered ceasefire__] in 2002, followed by [|__peace talks__]. A presidential election in 2005 was [|__narrowly won by Mahinda Rajapkse__], previously Sri Lanka's prime minister and a [|__critic of the ceasefire__]. He [|__officially abrogated__] the agreement in early 2008, following a bomb attack in Colombo, the country's capital. By early 2009, government forces [|__gained the upper hand over the Tigers__], but their own reputation for brutality exacerbated tensions, and blame for the [|__murder of an outspoken newspaper editor__] was laid at the government's feet.
 * Background:**

Military Situation Tamil Tigers are now confined to a patch of some 300 square kilometers. Around 250,000 ethnic Tamil civilians are trapped in the pocket of territory still controlled by the Tigers. The rebel capital of Kilinochchi, which the LTTE ruled for a decade before its capture by the government, is today a desolate, shell-shocked town of roofless buildings and crumbling walls. -Update Civilians in northern Sri Lanka are caught between advancing government soldiers and the crumbling forces of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Some 250,000 civilians are trapped in the north of Sri Lanka where the Tigers, suffering military defeats in recent months, are still being pummeled by government troops. In eastern Congo competing militias, largely representing rival ethnic groups (notably Hutus and Tutsis) and governments (of Congo itself and of neighboring Rwanda), have attacked, mutilated and displaced civilians as a means of getting control of mineral-rich territory. Widespread assaults on women in which victims are mass raped and disfigured, but not killed, seem to be a deliberate strategy to spread terror and trauma among Congolese who are seen as supporters of rival militias. These attacks are being compared to the attacks in western Sudan, in Darfur, (the bombing raids by government aircraft, or ground attacks by warlords)_one-sided assaults on unarmed non-combatants.

Pro Government Facts The army has designated a “safe zone” for civilians within Tiger-controlled territory, promising not to direct fire at this location. Sri Lanka’s government accuses the rebels of holding the civilians as human shields. The Tamil Tigers did not allow civilians to leave rebel-controlled areas. A spokesman for the Sri Lankan army denied that troops were firing into the safe zone. He also said that the Tigers have instructed their fighters to don civilian clothing to give the appearance of heavier casualties among non-combatants. The Liberation Tigers have launched dozens of suicide bomber attacks against civilians. -Update As the Tigers lose control of territory—the government claims just 600 rebels are now fighting—they may yet switch strategy to guerrilla fighting, which in turn would leave civilians vulnerable. Sri Lanka’s rulers denied responsibility for the shelling, suggesting that the Tigers may themselves be destroying buildings, perhaps for reasons of propaganda.

Pro Rebels Facts

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said there was a big humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka. The United Nations and the ICRC, which have staff in the area, say civilians are dying or being wounded as artillery shells exploded around them in the “safe zone”. Hundreds of people have been killed and scores of wounded hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and aid workers were injured while evacuating the wounded. The LTTE had nurtured Kilinochchi into a showpiece capital, to convince the international community that it could effectively administer the homeland it hoped to carve out. Its own police force and judiciary were headquartered here. Many journalists have suffered harassment and intimidation. Human-rights groups reckon a dozen have been killed in the past two years. This week saw the publication of a remarkable posthumous column by Lasantha Wickrematunge, a Sri Lankan newspaper editor. He had written it in anticipation of his own murder. That duly came on January 8th, when gunmen on motorcycles shot him on his way to work in the capital, Colombo. The president has roundly condemned the atrocity. He has suggested it was a plot to deflect attention from the military successes. But journalists find this hard to believe. They know that nobody has been brought to justice for earlier attacks. They suspect that in fact the murder was timed not to distract from military victories but to be drowned in a tide of nationalist enthusiasm. Tiger methods—ruthless silencing of dissenting voices, insistence on fanatical loyalty—seem to be catching on. Spokesmen often justify the government’s murky behavior by reference to the awfulness of the Tigers. But the outside world and Sri Lanka’s own citizens have the right to hold a democratically elected government to higher standards than a banned terrorist outfit. -Update On Tuesday February 3rd the Red Cross in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, reported that a hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu town, in an area controlled by the Tigers, had been shelled again, after attacks at the weekend killed several patients. Aid workers and United Nations staff say the institution is a refuge for civilians.