Another Mess

4 January 2008



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Sri Lanka’s Non-Ceasefire Officially Ends

For six years, there has been a legal ceasefire in Sri Lanka between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE] terrorists/freedom fighters. For the past two years, the ceasefire has been merely a piece of paper with both sides violating its terms. On Wednesday, the government told the Norwegian-led peacekeepers to get out of the way, formally ending the truce. If things were bad before, they may well be worse very soon.

The Asia Times reported, “Over 5,000 people have died in the past two years of ‘ceasefire’, taking the death toll since the war erupted in 1983 to around 70,000.” America has lost under 4,000 in Iraq-Nam in four years and that is considered a war, not a ceasefire. Sri Lankan’s have been rather loose with the term to say the least.

On the rebel side, the Tigers have assassinated government officials, undertook suicide bombings and forced children to join up for the “glorious cause.” The government answered by dropping bombs and sending troops into Tamil areas. In recent months, the government has managed a string of victories against the LTTE. The Asia Times quote an unnamed Defense Ministry official as saying, “Emboldened by these military successes, the government has decided to push for a fight to the finish. Military defeat of the LTTE seems within reach and the government would like to go for it.”

At the same time, the current coalition government led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party is under pressure from a very anti-Tamil party called the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna [JVP]. The JVP had voted against the second reading of the budget in December, but abstained later to allow its passage (and the survival of the coalition) possibly in exchange for ending the ceasefire. Whether part of a parliamentary deal or not, scrapping the ceasefire helped bolster the government’s anti-LTTE credentials.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Norwegian peace monitors have 14 days to get out of the way. That means that January 16 is the day the gloves come off. Noted analyst D. B. S. Jeyaraj told Asia Times Online, “The military is planning massive onslaughts against the LTTE in Wanni, which will involve indiscriminate bombing, shelling and so on. And it does not want the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission [SLMM] to maintain even its weak presence there.” At the same time, the Tigers know guerrilla warfare backwards and forwards. Even if the government wins, the unrest may continue for years.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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