# Sri Lanka



## old medic (2 Jan 2009)

Sri Lanka says troops have captured rebel capital
Fri. Jan. 2 2009
The Associated Press



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Government forces captured the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital in northern Sri Lanka on Friday, dealing a devastating blow to the rebels' quarter-century fight for an independent state, the president said.
> 
> But in a sign the rebels retained their ability to strike back, a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker on a motorcycle detonated a bomb near the air force headquarters in the heart of Colombo during Friday's afternoon rush hour, killing two airmen, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said.
> 
> ...


----------



## old medic (3 Jan 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090103/tamil_rebels_090103/20090103?hub=World

Sri Lanka bombs rebels after seizing their HQ
Sat. Jan. 3 2009 
The Associated Press



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankan air force jets and helicopters bombed a series of rebel targets in the north and northeast, the military said Saturday, as soldiers pressed deeper into Tamil Tiger territory a day after capturing the insurgents' de facto capital.
> 
> The fall of Kilinochchi on Friday dealt a devastating blow to the insurgents' 25-year campaign to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils. It has squeezed them into 1,605 square kilometres they still hold in the northeast.
> 
> ...


----------



## CougarKing (4 Jan 2009)

So let me get this straight- the Tamil Tigers have a fundraising source in Canada, but the government is unable to shut it down? And I think someone else here mentioned in another thread about a certain MP or government minister attending a Tamil Tiger rally not too long ago? ???



> *ANALYSTS SAY - Sri Lanka conflict far from over *
> By Amal Jayasinghe
> Agence France-Presse
> First Posted 10:25:00 01/04/2009
> ...


----------



## Drag (5 Jan 2009)

Their enabler-type groups were raising money on my campus in the aftermath of the tsunami.


----------



## noneck (5 Jan 2009)

Common knowledge that the Liberal party actively attended LTTE fundraisers in Scarbrough. These Liberal party members included Paul Martin. Ignorance is not ann excuse as at the time all parties were warned by both the RCMP and CSIS, however the LTTE was not considered a listed entity at that time.


----------



## old medic (5 Jan 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090105/Tamil_Tiger_090105/20090105?hub=World

Military captures yet another Tamil Tiger-held town
Mon. Jan. 5 2009
The Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- 





> Sri Lankan forces overran another village Monday and moved closer to seizing a strategic base from the Tamil Tigers, but concerns are mounting for the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in the rebels' shrinking territory.
> 
> The government has chased the rebels out of much of their de facto state in the north in recent months -- taking their administrative capital of Kilinochchi last week -- but the offensive is complicated by the presence of an estimated 300,000 civilians in rebel territory.
> 
> ...


----------



## old medic (8 Jan 2009)

Sri Lanka seizes key rebel defence line in north

Updated Tue. Jan. 6 2009 2:46 PM ET

The Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka --





> Sri Lankan troops broke through the Tamil Tigers' northern defense lines Tuesday, the military said, opening another active front in their war against the beleaguered guerrillas.
> 
> The capture of Muhamalai on the Jaffna peninsula was another blow to the separatist rebels amid a surging military offensive that has backed them into a small pocket of jungle in the northeast.
> 
> ...


----------



## old medic (8 Jan 2009)

Sri Lankan military captures Tamil Tiger base
Thu. Jan. 8 2009 
The Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka --





> Sri Lankan forces sweeping down from the north captured an important Tamil Tiger base on the Jaffna peninsula Thursday, further boxing in the retreating rebel group, the military said.
> 
> The capture of Pallai on the narrow isthmus connecting Jaffna with the rest of the island nation came after the rebels reportedly withdrew much of their artillery and heavy weaponry from the peninsula into their jungle strongholds to the south.
> 
> ...


----------



## dr.davies (8 Jan 2009)

CougarDaddy said:
			
		

> So let me get this straight- the Tamil Tigers have a fundraising source in Canada, but the government is unable to shut it down? And I think someone else here mentioned in another thread about a certain MP or government minister attending a Tamil Tiger rally not too long ago? ???


I had the opportunity to live in Colombo and volunteer with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.  Very interesting work and opened my eyes to plight of this nation.  I was the December the cease fire broke down and it was shortly after I left that the war had taken full force.  I believe the person who are referring to is Jim Kargiannis, MP from Scarborough-Agincourt.  He, and other MP's from Toronto attended a vigil in memorial of S.P.Thamilchelvan, the leader of the political wing of the Tamil Tigers.  This is a man who represented a terrorist organization, and it should be noted that at the time of the memorial, The Conservatives had already deemed the LTTE a terrorist organization.  What was shocking was Canada was one of the only countries who hadn't recognized them as a terrorist organization.  I was living there when the, at the time, newly elected Conservatives made the change.  It should be noted that Paul Martin and the Liberals refused to do.  It was a move which was met with great appreciation by the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) populous in Colombo and the organization I was working with.

Furthermore, I believe the organization you're rferring to is the World Tamil Movement.  they have since been shut down as far as I understood.  Trying to find some more information on the topic.


----------



## CougarKing (11 Jan 2009)

Does this mean that the final end to this conflict is within sight?

From Reuters:



> *Sri Lanka army ready for 'decisive blow' on Tigers
> Sri Lankan security forces were ready to deal a "decisive blow" to the remaining Tamil Tiger rebels following the capture of the highly strategic Elephant Pass, the defence ministry said on Saturday.*
> 
> After four days of fierce fighting, government forces on Friday established full control over the causeway, which links the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the mainland.
> ...


----------



## CougarKing (15 Jan 2009)

Hopefully this also means the end of the rebels' air component.



> *Sri Lanka troops capture Tamil Tiger air strip: military*
> 
> COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lankan troops have captured another air strip used by Tamil Tiger guerrillas to launch airborne attacks with light planes, the defence ministry said Thursday. *The makeshift jungle runway is the fifth of its type to be overrun by government soldiers* who are rapidly advancing on areas in the north once controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The ministry said the air strip at Iranamadu, south of the Tamil Tigers' former political capital of Kilinochchi, was protected by bunkers and trenches. However none of the light planes used by the LTTE to hit targets across the island were recovered. *The LTTE are believed to have five Czech-built Zlin-143 aircraft, smuggled onto the island in pieces and re-assembled*. The guerrillas last launched an air attack early in September, when they bombed a military base. The rebels are now almost totally confined to the jungle and lagoon district around Mullaittivu, their main military base on northeast coast. Sri Lanka's government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels a year ago, and stepped up its bid to dismantle the LTTE's northern mini-state once and for all. The government now says it is on the verge of total victory.
> 
> http://asia.news.yahoo.com/090115/afp/0901...acificnews.html


----------



## old medic (17 Jan 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090117/tamil_rebels_090117/20090117?hub=World

Report: Tamil rebels kill 51 Sri Lankan soldiers
Sat. Jan. 17 2009
The Associated Press



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Tamil Tigers killed 51 Sri Lankan soldiers in fierce fighting in the island's north, a pro-rebel Web site reported Saturday. The military denied dozens of troops died and said 20 insurgents were killed.
> 
> About 150 soldiers were also wounded in clashes near Dharmapuram village in the Tamil-dominated north *after the military launched an offensive Friday*, TamilNet quoted the rebels' media unit as saying.
> 
> ...


----------



## old medic (17 Jan 2009)

Editor's Killing Underscores Perils of Reporting in Sri Lanka

By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 15, 2009; Page A12


> NEW DELHI, Jan. 14 -- Across South Asia, it has become known as the letter from the grave.
> Anticipating his own slaying, Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga, 52, a fierce critic of his country's government, wrote an editorial called "And Then They Came for Me," a dramatic essay to be printed in the event of his assassination.
> 
> On Jan. 8, the father of three was shot in the head and chest on his way to work by two men on motorcycles. The editorial, published the following Sunday, has highlighted how dangerous reporting in Sri Lanka has become. Critics cite a growing pattern of intimidation by the government, especially during a recent push to wipe out the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers, in a war that has persisted for more than two decades, one of the world's longest-running conflicts.
> ...



And Then They Came For Me
The Sunday Leader Online
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090111/editorial-.htm?sid=ST2009011404324&s_pos=list


----------



## old medic (25 Jan 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090125/srilanka_rebels_090125/20090125?hub=World

Sri Lanka says it captured last rebel stronghold
Sun. Jan. 25 2009
The Associated Press



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankan forces captured the Tamil Tigers' last major stronghold in the country's north, the army announced Sunday, a victory that left the remaining rebel fighters confined to the tiny slice of jungle they still control.
> 
> The capture of Mullaittivu came just three weeks after the army drove the rebels from their administrative capital of Kilinochchi and forced them to retreat from most of the de facto state they controlled across a wide swath of northern Sri Lanka.
> 
> ...


----------



## Yrys (25 Jan 2009)

Same subject, other articles :

Last Tamil Tiger bastion 'taken'a, BBC News

MAP OF THE REGION







Sri Lankan troops have captured the last Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu 
in the north-east of the island, the country's army chief says.

On Sri Lankan TV, Lt Gen Sarath Fonsek said troops had "completely captured" 
Mullaitivu after a month of fighting. There has been no comment from the Tamil 
Tigers, who have suffered a series of reverses in recent months.

The government has vowed to crush the rebels, who have been fighting for 
a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed 
during the insurgency.

*Stall tactics*

Announcing the capture of Mullaitivu, the general said victory in the area would 
render the conflict with the Tigers "95% over", the Associated Press reported.
"We have completely captured Mullaitivu," he said.

Earlier, a government spokesman said troops from the 59th division had entered 
Mullaitivu and that it was "a matter of time before they take full control of the area". 

Tamil Tiger rebels blasted through the walls of a reservoir on Saturday in an 
attempt to stall the advancing troops, the military said. There is no way of 
confirming any of the claims as independent journalists are barred from
 conflict zone.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan in Colombo says the fall of the last main town 
under the Tigers' control would deprive the group of a crucial military base.

The government has won a string of military victories in recent months, including 
the capture of the rebels' de facto capital of Kilinochchi, cornering the rebels into 
a tiny pocket of territory in the island's north-east. 
...

 Sri Lanka army chief: Troops have taken key rebel stronghold, CNN





Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka says a key Tamil 
town has been taken in a national TV broadcast Sunday.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Sri Lankan soldiers have seized a key rebel 
stronghold after launching a surprise attack early Sunday morning, the head 
of Sri Lanka's army announced.roops crossed a lagoon and entered the town 
of Mullaittivu before encountering heavy resistance from Tamil fighters, 
according to the government-run news agency.

"Our troops fought their way through a 40 km (25 mile) thick jungle track,"
 Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said in a televised address on Sunday. "This is the 
long awaited victory and I am happy to say that our heroic forces today 
captured the Mullaittivu town after 12 years," the Sri Lanka Army chief said.

There is no confirmation from the rebels that the strategic garrison has been 
overtaken. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- commonly known 
as the Tamil Tigers -- have fought for an independent homeland for the country's 
ethnic Tamil minority since 1983. The civil war has left more than 70,000 people dead.

The rebels gained control over Mullaittivu in 1996 and established a military garrison 
there, according to the government. In recent days, the military has made significant 
progress in its campaign to recapture rebel strongholds.

Earlier this month, troops regained control of the northern town of Elephant Pass, 
the point at which mainland Sri Lanka links to the northern Jaffna peninsula. It had 
been in rebel hands for more than nine years.

The re-capture enabled the government to use a highway linking the mainland to 
the peninsula to move troops and supplies. Previously, it was done by air and sea.
"The area that the LTTE has dominated has shrank phenomenally," Sri Lankan 
High Commissioner to India, C.R Jayasinghe, told CNN. "They lost... about 90 
percent of what they had."

Despite major government gains, critics point to ongoing civilian casualties 
resultant from the conflict. "This is an important strategic success for the army, 
but literally tens of thousands of people, children, are in the line of fire," 
United Nations spokesman James Elder said in a phone conversation Sunday.
"Some Sri Lankan U.N. staff are trapped there," he added. "Convoys are going 
to the area, delivering emergency supplies, but these are not sufficient for the 
number of people in need."
...


----------



## Yrys (26 Jan 2009)

Tamil Tiger rebels 'to fight on', BBC News





Velupillai Prabhakaran "is with our 
people", the rebels say

The top leader of the Tamil Tigers has not left Sri Lanka and is still 
leading the "freedom struggle", the rebels' political leader has said.
B Nadesan told the BBC by telephone that reports Velupillai Prabhakaran 
had fled were "malicious propaganda". He promised the rebels would 
fight on.

Fears for civilians are growing - the UN says dozens are dead or 
injured. Sri Lanka's army has pushed the rebels from their strongholds. 
Mullaitivu, their last major base, fell on Sunday.

There is no way of confirming claims from either side in the conflict 
zone as independent journalists are barred.

*'Liberation war'*

Speaking exclusively to the BBC Sinhala service, Mr Nadesan rejected 
claims Mr Prabhakaran had fled. "It is malicious propaganda - our leader 
is still with us - our leader is giving leadership to our freedom struggle. 
He is with our people," he said. 

Mr Nadesan also said the Tigers would not lay down arms until the 
freedom and dignity of their people were guaranteed. He shrugged off 
recent military setbacks which have seen the loss of the key bases of 
Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu.

He said: "In a liberation war it is normal for a force to lose territory and 
regain the same and achieve freedom. In the past we have withdrawn 
many times and bounced back to achieve big victories."

When asked why the rebels would not lay down their arms and talk to 
the government, Mr Nadesan said: "We took up arms to safeguard our 
people. We need a guarantee of living with freedom and dignity and 
sovereignty... until that, we will not come to that point." Mr Nadesan 
also accused the army of shelling civilians in areas the government had 
designated safe zones.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC the army had 
no need to fire at civilian areas. Brig Nanayakkara said the rebels were 
firing from the safe zone "but we don't engage them".

*'Crisis'*

The district director of health for Kilinochchi region, T Satyamurthy, also 
spoke to the BBC and said that between 1 and 25 January, 145 civilians 
had died due to the conflict in the region and more than 650 had been 
admitted to hospitals. Dr Satyamurthy, the most senior government health 
official in the district, said that on Monday 27 civilians had been killed and 
76 wounded when about 1,000 shells fell on the Udayarkatta and 
Nattangandal hospital complex in Mullaitivu district.

Dr Satyamurthy said the shelling came from the south "where the SLA 
[Sri Lankan army] is camping". "We don't have any staff or medicine - 
security is a major problem, so we can't work properly," Dr Satyamurthy 
said.

Brig Nanayakkara insisted the army had "no connection whatsoever with 
these civilian deaths". "The military has not directed any attacks towards 
the safe zone. It is declared for the civilians to come and seek protection." 
He said all government officials in the region were "making statements under 
the pressure from terrorists. I can clearly say that they are making these 
statements to save their lives".

The UN has also expressed concerns about civilian deaths, saying dozens had 
been killed. Resident coordinator Neil Buhne told the Associated Press news 
agency the situation was desperate. "There have been many civilians killed 
over the last two days. It's really a crisis now."

There are thought to be about 250,000 civilians in the area in which the rebels 
are still operating. The army took Mullaitivu town - the last major Tiger base - 
on Sunday. The military says it is now advancing into the 300 sq km (115 sq mile) 
triangle of land in which the Tamil Tigers are still operating. Mr Nadesan said 
the rebels hold twice that area.

The government has vowed to crush the rebels, who have been fighting for a 
separate homeland for Tamils for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been 
killed during the insurgency. 

*INSURGENCY TIMELINE*
1976: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam form in the north-east
1987: India deploys peace-keepers to Tamil areas but they leave in 1990
1993: President Premadasa killed by Tiger bomb
2001: Attack on airport destroys half Sri Lankan Airlines fleet
2002: Government and rebels agree ceasefire
2005: Mahinda Rajapaksa becomes president
2006: Heavy fighting resumes
2009: Army takes main rebel bases of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu


----------



## old medic (27 Jan 2009)

Here is another timeline link, I will post the 2006 onward portion.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1166237.stm



> 2006 April - Attacks begin to escalate again.
> A suicide bomber attacks the main military compound in Colombo, killing at least eight people. The military launch air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets.
> 
> 2006 May - Tamil Tiger rebels attack a naval convoy near Jaffna.
> ...


----------



## old medic (31 Jan 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090131/srilanka_tigers_090131/20090131?hub=World

Sri Lanka military destroys Tiger suicide boat
Sat. Jan. 31 2009
The Associated Press



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- The Sri Lankan military claimed Saturday it had destroyed a Tamil Tiger suicide boat, as the government ruled out a ceasefire in the northern war zone where hundreds of thousands of civilians are reportedly trapped.
> 
> The explosives-laden boat was intercepted by a naval ship and destroyed with heavy gunfire early Friday, according to the Defense Ministry Web site.
> 
> ...


----------



## MarkOttawa (31 Jan 2009)

A post at _Daimnation!_ (several useful links within):

Taming Tigers
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/012598.html

Mark
Ottawa


----------



## Yrys (1 Feb 2009)

Tigers say civilians will remain, 30 January 2009





Sri Lankan soldiers captured Mullaitivu 
last Sunday

The Tamil Tigers say that 250,000 civilians in the conflict zone in north-eastern 
Sri Lanka want to stay to be protected by the rebels.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had appealed to the rebels to allow the 
civilians to leave. But his government also ruled out a ceasefire.

Rebel political chief B Nadesan said the people did not wish to end up in the hands 
of "their killers".

Health officials and rights groups say hundreds of civilians have died.

*'Rights breaches'*

President Rajapaksa said he was offering safe passage to the civilians so they could 
leave.

The BBC's Chris Morris in Colombo says Mr Nadesan told him that 28 people had been 
killed by shellfire since Mr Rajapaksa's offer of safe passage. There is no way of 
independently verifying casualty claims by either side in the conflict.

President Rajapaksa had earlier said the rebels were refusing to let the civilians leave.
"I urge the [Tamil Tigers], within the next 48 hours to allow free movement of civilians 
to ensure their safety and security. For all those civilians, I assure a safe passage to a 
secure environment," he said.

Mr Nadesan denied the rebels were blocking civilians. He also said he was in daily 
contact with the Tigers' Vellupillai Prabhakaran and that the rebels' main leader was 
still full of enthusiasm. Mr Nadesan said suggestions that the Sri Lankan army was 
about to win the war against the Tigers were wrong.





The army is facing monsoon conditions 
in its push into the jungle

The European Union on Friday called for a halt to the conflict.

Link : In pictures: Sri Lankan war




The Sri Lankan army says it is continuing to make advances in its 
offensive against the Tamil Tigers in the north-east.


EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said: "This is an escalating humanitarian 
catastrophe. We are extremely worried about the terrible situation facing people trapped 
in the fighting."

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that he was again calling for an "immediate 
humanitarian ceasefire".

But the Sri Lankan government has ruled out a truce. Human Rights Minister Mahinda 
Samarasinghe told reporters on Friday: "We will continue with our military operations 
and we will continue to liberate areas which have not been liberated so far."

Our correspondent says that displaced civilians who do manage to leave the war zone are 
held in government-managed camps to which there is no media access.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has said she is extremely 
concerned about the well-being of people caught up in the fighting. She said the 
situation could be worse than generally realised because of the restrictions to access 
to the war zone. Ms Pillay said there appeared to be "very grave breaches of human 
rights by both sides in the conflict and it is imperative that we find out more about 
what exactly has been going on".

On Friday, the Reporters without Borders group also appealed to President Rajapaksa 
to allow local and foreign journalists to report freely. The government has declared a 
"safe zone" for civilians but rights groups say the army is still firing into it and that the 
rebels are using civilians there as hostages.

The Red Cross says the humanitarian situation in the north-east "remains precarious 
for thousands". "Stocks have been depleted and sustainable ways of producing food 
locally have become almost nonexistent," it said.

The UK has said it is doubling its emergency humanitarian aid with another £2.5m to 
support Red Cross operations and help maintain relief convoys.

Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander said: "Not enough 
aid is getting through to those who desperately need it."

*Heavy fighting*

The military says it is involved in a final push against the retreating rebels. It has captured 
the key towns of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and the strategically important Elephant Pass in recent 
weeks.

The BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan is at Elephant Pass with the army. He says he can hear 
artillery fire 15km (nine miles) to the south and has been told there is heavy fighting there.
Our correspondent says commanders are confident the fighting will be over in the coming days - 
though they do not specify how long exactly it will take. They are upbeat and say rebel resistance 
is crumbling. He has been told another 10 rebels have been killed in the latest fighting, though 
this too cannot be independently verified.


----------



## Yrys (1 Feb 2009)

S Lanka hospital hit in fighting






The government has said it will take care 
of civilians caught in the war zone

At least two people were killed after a hospital in northern Sri Lanka was shelled 
in clashes between government and rebels, the Red Cross has said. A Red Cross 
spokesman said he was "shocked" that the hospital had been hit, for the second 
time in weeks.

The hospital is situated in an enclave held by the Tamil Tiger rebels and home 
to tens of thousands of civilians.

The Sri Lankan military says it will move to "liberate" the civilians after a truce to 
allow them to leave expired. Meanwhile, the government has warned it will expel 
diplomats, aid agencies and journalists it deems biased in favour of the Tamil Tigers.

The agencies say the people are facing a desperate situation, with hundreds killed 
in combat in recent days and food supplies running low.

*'Wounded are protected'*

The Red Cross said in a statement that the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital in Vanni region 
received two direct hits. "We're shocked that the hospital was hit, and this for the 
second time in recent weeks," said Paul Castella, head of the Colombo delegation of 
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "Wounded and sick people, 
medical personnel and medical facilities are all protected by international humanitarian 
law. Under no circumstance may they be directly attacked."

The hospital, which has some 500 inpatients, is one of the few still operating in the region.

An army offensive has pushed the rebels into a 300 sq km (110 sq mile) corner of jungle 
in the north-east of the island, which aid agencies say also holds 250,000 civilians. The 
government says the number of civilians is closer to 120,000 and that the army has a 
policy of not firing at civilians. It accuses the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of 
not allowing civilians to leave, saying they are being used as human shields.

The rebels say the civilians prefer to stay where they are under Tamil Tiger "protection".

The reports cannot be independently confirmed as neither side allows journalists near 
the war zone.

*'Utmost care'*

Officials said about 300 civilians had crossed into government-held territory during the 
48-hour truce, which expired late Saturday. "We will now have to save the civilians and 
move in," the spokesman, Kaheliya Rambukwella, said. "It is now very evident that 
[Tamil Tiger leader Valupillai] Prabhakaran is... using civilians as cover," Mr Rambukwella 
said. "We will take the utmost care of civilians when we move in."

The military has captured the key towns of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and the strategically 
important Elephant Pass to the Jaffna peninsula in recent weeks.

The BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan has been in the city of Jaffna on one of the first 
government-approved media trips to the city - the cultural capital of Sri Lanka's Tamil 
community - in months. He said thousands of people had attended a rally held by a 
pro-government Tamil party calling for the rebels to allow civilians to leave the war zone.

Meanwhile a senior government official warned that diplomats, aid agencies and media, 
including the BBC, will be expelled from Sri Lanka if they seem to favour the Tamil Tiger 
rebels. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said bias among some foreigners was 
damaging security forces as they dealt the "final blow" to the rebels.


----------



## Yrys (2 Feb 2009)

S Lanka tells civilians to leave

The Sri Lankan government has told civilians to leave an area where it is fighting 
Tamil Tiger rebels, saying it cannot guarantee their safety. A statement said the 
battle in the north-east was at a "decisive stage". It is unclear how the tens of 
thousands of people caught up in the fighting can escape. The rebels deny 
preventing people from leaving the area.

Earlier, the Red Cross said at least nine people were killed by shelling at a 
hospital in rebel-held territory. "The government calls on all civilians to enter 
the demarcated 'safety zone' as soon as possible," the government statement 
said, AFP news agency reported. "The government cannot be responsible for 
the safety and security of civilians still living among LTTE [liberation Tigers of 
Tamil Eelam] terrorists," it said.

Sri Lanka's military says it has designated a safe zone for civilians in a 32 sq km 
buffer zone on the A-35 main road which links Paranthan and Mullaitivu. The 
government's designated safe zone is inside a gradually-shrinking rebel enclave 
north of the town of Mullaitivu.

But aid workers say that, in recent days, shells have fallen into the zone and 
people have been killed there. Both sides deny being responsible for firing into 
the area.

The Sri Lankan military said there had been more heavy fighting on Monday, with 
two rebel leaders critically wounded. There in no independent confirmation of the 
claim - journalists are not able to reach the front lines. The army offensive has 
pushed the rebels into a 300 sq km (110 sq mile) corner of jungle in the north-east 
of the island, which aid agencies say also holds 250,000 civilians.

The government says the number of civilians is closer to 120,000 and that the army 
has a policy of not firing at civilians. It accuses the Tamil Tigers of not allowing 
civilians to leave, saying they are being used as human shields.

The rebels say the civilians prefer to stay where they are under rebel "protection".

The government statement came a day after nine people were killed when shells 
hit a hospital in the area, according to the Red Cross.

There has been no word from the rebels on the government statement or on the 
shelling of the hospital, in the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu, in Mullaitivu district. The 
hospital was hit three times in 24 hours, aid officials said.

UN spokesman Gordon Weiss told the BBC the shells had hit a crowded paediatric 
unit. It is not clear who fired them, with pro-rebel websites blaming the army for 
the attacks, and the military denying any role.

A Sri Lankan government spokesman, Lakshman Hulugalle, told the BBC's World 
Update programme: "Actually, this whole issue of shelling at Puthukkudiyiruppu 
Hospital is based on false information. "There was no attack in that area... They're 
just spreading this news for them. Other than that, we totally reject that there was 
shelling. There was no shelling at all."

There has been no comment so far from the Tamil Tigers.

Independent journalists are not allowed in the conflict zone so information from 
both sides cannot be verified. Puthukkudiyiruppu is situated in an enclave held by 
the rebels, and is home to tens of thousands of civilians.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised safe passage for civilians 
trapped by fighting in the north-east.

*Influx of injured*

International Red Cross spokeswoman Sophie Romanens told the BBC that the local 
civilian population was still desperate to reach the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu for 
medical help. "There is a constant influx of people wounded by the fighting who 
arrive at the hospital," she said. "People arrive by ambulances, but they are also 
brought in by wagon, by pick-up truck, tractor, any vehicle, any means of transport
 that people can find to reach that hospital. "And you know, people who are wounded 
are even ready to take the risk to have to cross an area where there is fighting 
going on to be able to get treatment in the hospital."


----------



## Yrys (2 Feb 2009)

2 days of shelling on Sri Lanka hospital kills 11
One of the last remaining health institutions in war zone heavily damaged

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Artillery shells slammed into an overcrowded hospital for the second day 
in Sri Lanka's northern war zone, bringing the death toll to at least 11 people, officials said 
Monday as the army claimed it found an abandoned luxury hide-out of the elusive rebel leader.

The attacks on the hospital intensified concern for the fate of some 250,000 civilians trapped 
in the shrinking war zone where the Tamil Tigers have been boxed in. The Sri Lankan army 
believes it is on the verge of destroying the rebels and ending one of the longest running civil 
wars in the world.

In the chaos of war, where claims and counterclaims have become impossible to verify independently, 
the Tamil Tigers said they killed 150 soldiers and injured more than 300 since Sunday. The army 
denied it lost any men. "There is no truth to that. There were small confrontations, but we didn't 
suffer any casualties," military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara told The Associated Press.

The fighting is taking place in Puthukkudiyiruppu area, where three artillery barrages slammed 
into the pediatrics and women's wards of the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital on Sunday, the Red Cross 
said. The shells, which also hit a kitchen and a chapel, killed nine patients Sunday and wounded 20,
 Red Cross spokeswoman Sarasi Wijeratne said Monday. Kandasamy Tharmakulasingham, a local 
health official, confirmed the attacks, and said more shells hit the hospital Monday morning, killing 
two more people and wounding six others. Sarasi and Tharmakulasingham couldn't say who fired 
the shells.

But Dr. Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top government health official in the area, said two of the 
attacks appeared to have come from the army. He said the shelling caused extensive damage to 
the overcrowded hospital, one of the last functioning health institutions inside rebel-held territory.

*Pediatric ward struck*

The United Nations confirmed the hospital was struck Sunday by artillery shells throughout the day.
"It seems to have struck the pediatric ward, a 30-bed ward filled to overflowing," U.N. spokesman 
Gordon Weiss said. He did not cast blame on either side.

Nanayakkara said the army was not responsible for the attacks and accused the rebels, formally 
known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, of "desperately" firing artillery shells at random.
He said troops discovered Sunday an underground three-room apartment in Vishwamadu village,
 fitted with a luxury bathroom, high quality furnishings, a generator and electrical appliances. "We 
believe it belongs to LTTE leader (Velupillai) Prabhakaran," he said. "With the luxury items which 
we have come across there, it definitely has to be the leader's house."

The Tigers did not immediately comment on the report, but claimed they pushed back army troops 
and tanks in Puthukkudiyiruppu, killing 150 soldiers and wounding more than 350, on Sunday, 
S. Puleedevan, a top rebel official, said in a statement.

Independent reports from the war zone are not available because journalists and aid groups are 
barred from the area.

*Humanitarian crisis*

Aid groups say the fighting has spawned a humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by the strikes on the 
hospital. The Red Cross said more than 500 patients were in the hospital, and the wounded 
continued to arrive despite the afternoon attack on the facility. The hospital is so crowded that 
many patients were forced to sleep on mattresses in the corridor, it said.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in 
the north and east after decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese 
majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the civil war.


----------



## old medic (3 Feb 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090203/Sri_Lanka_090203/20090203?hub=TopStories

Patients flee hospital under attack in Sri Lanka
Tue. Feb. 3 2009
The Associated Press



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Patients are fleeing a hospital that was hit four times by artillery shells in the war between the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces in northern Sri Lanka this week, the Red Cross said Tuesday.
> 
> Also Tuesday, the military said it had captured the rebels' seventh and final airstrip, effectively grounding their tiny air force as troops pushed ahead with their offensive to crush the guerrilla group and end Asia's longest-running civil war.
> 
> ...


----------



## 4Feathers (3 Feb 2009)

Unbeknown to many, the RAF had a Sqn in Sri Lanka in WW11. I you are interested, google Air Commodore Birchall, the savior if Ceylon. Probably one of Canada's greatest unsung war hero's. I had the please of travelling there with him to dedicate a cairn in honour of fallen Canadian Airmen from his Squadron.


----------



## 4Feathers (3 Feb 2009)

Oops, I meant RCAF not RAF.


----------



## MarkOttawa (3 Feb 2009)

More on Air Commodore Leonard Birchall:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-21567.html



> ‘Canada has lost a hero'
> 
> By Ann Lukits
> Local News - Monday, September 13, 2004 @ 07:00
> ...



Anyone know if RMC is still running the Birchall Cup?

Mark
Ottawa


----------



## old medic (8 Feb 2009)

Two versions, two sets of numbers, both originating with The AP

Sri Lanka military: 10,000 civilians flee war zone
Feb. 8 2009 7:42 AM ET
The Associated Press
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090208/srilanka_civilians_090208/20090208?hub=World



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- More than 10,000 civilians have fled Sri Lanka's northern war zone over the last two days, an official said Sunday as government forces appeared poised to crush the separatist Tamil Tigers.
> 
> Meanwhile, army troops foiled a rebel attempt to break through the front line of government forces in the north, killing at least 15 insurgents, the military said.
> 
> ...





Sri Lankan military says more than 15,000 civilians flee war zone as fighting rages
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI | Associated Press Writer
 8:49 AM CST, February 8, 2009 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-sri-lanka-civil-war,0,7669298.story



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — More than 15,000 civilians have fled Sri Lanka's northern war zone over the last three days, an official said Sunday, as government forces appeared poised to crush the separatist Tamil Tigers.
> 
> Meanwhile, attacks in the north killed at least 21 rebels over the weekend, according to the military.
> 
> ...


----------



## old medic (9 Feb 2009)

Female suicide bomber kills 28 in Sri Lanka

Updated Mon. Feb. 9 2009 2:23 PM ET

The Associated Press


> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel who pretended to be a war refugee blew herself up Monday as Sri Lankan soldiers frisked her at a checkpoint. Twenty troops and eight civilians died.
> 
> State TV showed the carnage after the suicide bombing in Vishwamadu, a northeastern town where hundreds of civilians had been waiting to be sent to refugee camps: a woman in a blue dress curled up in the fetal position, her face and neck spattered with blood; plastic lawn chairs upended and piled in a jumble from the force of the blast.
> 
> ...


----------



## geo (9 Feb 2009)

well... an insurection that has run it's course for 25+ years
why?... because it was a low intensity war where the Tamil tigers were slowly picking at the Sri Lankan people.  While I shudeder at the loss of life, this one final push has the potential to squash the insurection once and for all.

Yes, there is spilt blood BUT what is the alternative... continuing for another 25+ years

I think not!


----------



## Yrys (15 Feb 2009)

S Lanka civilian attacks denied, BBC News, 11 February 2009

The Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels have both denied accusations of inflicting 
civilian casualties in the north-east. The army said it was not responsible for the shelling of 
a makeshift hospital which the Red Cross (ICRC) said had killed 16 people on Monday. The 
Tamil Tigers denied shooting dead 19 fleeing civilians.

Meanwhile the ICRC says a boat carrying 240 wounded civilians from the war area has 
arrived safely in Trincomalee. "The boat arrived from Putumattalan on Tuesday night," an 
International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman told the BBC.  "Because it took all 
night for the wounded and sick passengers to disembark we cannot return to collect another 
160 patients waiting to be transferred from the war area until Thursday."

The ICRC said at least 16 patients were killed on Monday in shelling of the centre treating 
wounded civilians in Putumattalan. "We are shocked that patients are not afforded the protection 
they are entitled to," ICRC head Paul Castella said. He did not say who was behind the shelling.

The government has strongly denied that it was involved. "We did not fire at this location on 
Monday and it is quite possible that the Tamil Tigers attacked them," military spokesman Brig 
Udaya Nanayakkara told the AFP news agency.

The military in turn accused the rebels of gunning down 19 civilians and wounding another 75 
who tried to escape from the dwindling territory they still control. But that allegation was 
"categorically denied" in a statement released by the Tigers on the pro-rebel TamilNet website. 
It said that Sri Lankan army commandos were responsible "in their attempt to forcibly move civilians" 
away from the conflict areas.

"Sri Lankan military machinery, which has relentlessly killed and maimed thousands of civilians during 
the past four weeks, is now engaged in a propaganda drive to divert the mounting pressure on the 
Colombo government by the international community," rebel spokesman C Ilamparithy was quoted by 
TamilNet as saying.

Because independent journalists are forbidden by the government from travelling to the war zone, 
it is impossible to verify the claims of either side.

The rebels are now restricted to an area of less than 100 sq km (38 square miles) and analysts say 
they are close to military defeat.

The ICRC says the recent fighting has claimed hundreds of civilian lives and trapped tens of thousands 
of people. The director general of health services Ajith Mendis told the BBC Sinhala service the ministry 
of health had issued an order for doctors and hospital staff to leave the conflict area to work in 
government-controlled areas. The government has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, demanding 
the rebels lay down their arms.

The Tigers have said they will not do so until they have a "guarantee of living with freedom and dignity and
sovereignty". The rebels started fighting in the 1970s for a separate state for Tamils.


----------



## Yrys (15 Feb 2009)

More Sri Lanka wounded evacuated, BBC News, 12 February 2009





The government says more and more 
civilians are fleeing rebel-held areas

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has evacuated a further 160 sick 
and wounded people trapped by fighting in north Sri Lanka. An ICRC spokeswoman told the 
BBC that a vessel was on its way to Trincomalee after collecting civilian patients from the coastal 
village of Putumattalan.

Meanwhile the British PM has appointed a former Defence Secretary, Des Browne, as his special 
envoy to Sri Lanka.

The Red Cross says recent fighting has claimed hundreds of civilian lives. It says that tens of 
thousands of people are trapped. "Some of those we have collected are in a serious medical 
condition and need urgent treatment," the ICRC spokeswoman said. She said the vessel would 
arrive in Trincomalee late on Thursday. The spokeswoman said that the ICRC had no knowledge 
at present of further injured or sick civilians who needed to be evacuated.

*'Humanitarian aid'*

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Des Browne would work closely with the Sri Lankan 
government and leaders from all communities. He said the need to get a ceasefire and find a 
political settlement had to be addressed immediately. "I want him to be involved in seeing whether 
there is scope for political progress in Sri Lanka as well as looking at the issues of humanitarian aid," 
the British prime minister said. "The important thing is to emphasise to all partners that without a 
ceasefire and then an attempt at a political process we will be back to the same problems that we've 
had before."

In a separate development, the army says it has disbanded a "safe zone" it had established in the 
war-hit north. Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said that the army was instead setting up 
what he called a new refuge for tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the area. He accused Tamil 
Tiger rebels of forcing civilians to seek shelter from the fighting out of the original zone, forcing the 
government to set up a new one.

There has been no word from the Tamil Tigers in relation to the government's announcement, but the 
pro-rebel TamilNet website has repeatedly accused the army of shelling within the zone.

The government established the first zone on 21 January in a small area of land inside rebel-held 
territory. Security forces encouraged families trapped in the war-affected areas to move to the refuge 
and pledged not to attack that area. About 50,000 soldiers are pressing the Tamil Tigers into a patch 
of north-eastern jungle after taking the key areas of Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu. The 
government has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, demanding the rebels lay down their arms.

The Tigers have said they will not do so until they have a "guarantee of living with freedom and dignity 
and sovereignty". The rebels started fighting in the 1970s for a separate state for Tamils.


----------



## old medic (19 Feb 2009)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs17-2009feb17,0,4938308.story
February 17, 2009

SRI LANKA

Rebels forcibly recruit teens, U.N. official says

The separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have forcibly recruited teenagers and a U.N. worker, and are shooting and killing people trying to flee the war, said Neil Buhne, United Nations resident coordinator for Sri Lanka. He did not give a number for the dead.

Buhne said the rebels forcibly recruited one of 15 local U.N. employees into their ranks. Those 15 were physically barred from leaving the war zone last month, along with 75 dependents, including 40 children, he said. The rebels could not be reached for comment.

On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross ferried out by boat 400 people from a no-fire zone, its third evacuation from the area in a week.


----------



## geo (19 Feb 2009)

Anybody surprised ?

Same as Stalin facing the fall of Stalingrad.... 
I will fight to the last drop of blood given by my people.... SMERSH troops ensuring that order was "executed".


----------



## Journeyman (19 Feb 2009)

geo said:
			
		

> Anybody surprised ?



Surprised that the UN turned a blind eye to this.....until one of _their_ local hires was press-ganged? Not in the slightest.

The world had the honesty to scrap the League of Nations as the abject failure that it was. But we continue to keep this equally toothless, yet astronomically more expensive, condo to third-world despots and bureaucrats on life support.

To quote Lt.Col. Frank Slade,* "I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place!"*


----------



## CougarKing (20 Feb 2009)

I can't believe the LTTE still have their own airpower in spite of the sustained Sri Lankan government offensive.



> *Rebel plane bombs Sri Lanka capital*
> 
> http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVoaDFmbCYS-Usz9ACDRIengj21QD96FEB200
> 
> ...


----------



## old medic (21 Feb 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090221/srilanka_airstrike_090221/20090221?hub=World

Sri Lanka rebels call airstrike a success
Sat. Feb. 21 2009
The Associated Press



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Tamil Tiger rebels said Saturday the two planes they sent on a daring air attack over Sri Lanka's capital that killed four people, including the two pilots, were on a kamikaze mission and were not shot down.
> 
> Meanwhile, a visiting top UN humanitarian official called on the government and the rebels to avoid a "final bloodbath" in the country's civil war saying that many civilians are being killed as the conflict is believed to reach its final phase.
> 
> ...


----------



## geo (21 Feb 2009)

The fact that the LTTE managed to squirrel away some prop aircraft (probably used to smuggle) is not all that surprising.  They may have been parked in India OR in plain sight within Sri Lankas government controlled territory.  Having chosen to kamikaze the aircraft is, form my prespective, a last roll of the dice - throwing away resources they won't have much chance of using ever again.


----------



## Yrys (21 Feb 2009)

Tamil Tiger planes raid Colombo, BBC News , 21 February 2009

Video of "Colombo in Tamil planes attack", 1 min 39 sec

Two planes belonging to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have attacked the capital Colombo, 
killing two people and injuring about 45, officials say. Both planes were downed, one of them 
hitting inland revenue offices, where the casualties occurred, officials said. The building was 
badly damaged. The other plane was shot down near the city's airport, which was closed.

The raid comes as the army has driven the Tigers into a shrinking zone of jungle in the north 
of Sri Lanka. A pro-rebel website, TamilNet, said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
had claimed what it described as "successful air raids". They involved "diving into Sri Lanka Air 
Force (SLAF) Headquarters in Colombo and into the SLAF base at Katunayaka", 35km (21 miles) 
north of the capital, the website said.

TamilNet named the two pilots as Col Roopan and Lt Col Siriththiran - describing them as 
decorated pilots from the "Black Air Tigers" squad - and showed a picture purportedly of 
the men with Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.





Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, 
centre, was pictured with the two pilots

Correspondents say the attack amounts to a major embarrassment for Sri Lanka's government, 
which had claimed to have destroyed all the rebels' hidden runways and put its small air force 
out of action.

*'Massive explosion'*

The city was put on full alert at about 2130 (1600 GMT) on Friday as electricity was cut and 
searchlights and tracer fire from anti-aircraft guns cut through the night sky. Briton Barry Walker 
told the BBC that he was in a central Colombo hotel when the blackout hit. "We were sitting by 
the swimming pool when we heard firing of heavy anti-aircraft guns. Heavy  shell fire. This lasted 
20-25 minutes... then there was a massive explosion," he said. Mr Walker and other guests were 
ushered into the hotel's basement for about two hours until the all-clear was given.

Another witness told the BBC he saw a low-flying aircraft and then heard a huge explosion 
by the city's fort, where many government offices are located. The air force headquarters, 
which is in the same area, may have been the target, correspondents say.

*Jets scrambled*

The ministry of defence said a tax office of the inland revenue department was in flames after 
one of the planes went down into the building. Most of the windows in the high-rise office block 
were blown out and several floors were gutted by fire. The other plane was shot down next to 
the international airport, just outside Colombo, and the body of its pilot had been found, defence 
spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.





One of the aircraft crashed in 
marshland near an airport

Witnesses at the airport told Associated Press news agency that anti-aircraft guns had been firing 
followed by an explosion.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the alert began when a suspected Tamil Tiger 
aircraft was spotted north-east of Colombo and the capital's air defences were activated. Air force 
jets were scrambled to engage the planes. The attack comes as a major Sri Lankan army offensive 
has inflicted a series of defeats on the Tamil Tiger forces, pushing the rebels into a narrow area 
of jungle in the north of Sri Lanka.

The Tigers have used light planes in the past to attack Colombo and military targets in other areas 
of Sri Lanka. The Tigers were believed to have a number of two-seater Czech-made Zlin-143 
aircraft fitted with homemade bombing equipment. The propeller-driven planes were reportedly 
smuggled into the country in pieces before being reassembled and modified to carry bombs.

About 70,000 people have died in the last 25 years as the Tigers have been fighting for a separate 
homeland in the north and east of the country.


----------



## Colin Parkinson (22 Feb 2009)

geo said:
			
		

> The fact that the LTTE managed to squirrel away some prop aircraft (probably used to smuggle) is not all that surprising.  They may have been parked in India OR in plain sight within Sri Lankas government controlled territory.  Having chosen to kamikaze the aircraft is, form my prospective, a last roll of the dice - throwing away resources they won't have much chance of using ever again.



I agree it is a last attempt to stem the tide, plus their out of country PR types are going like mad to create a ceasefire. It's not going to happen, the government smells victory and they intend to take it. The UN and rest of the world should stay out of the fight and focus on helping the civilians in army held territory and making sure the army treats people well. The government needs to canvas money from the world to help rebuild and reintegrate the Tamils into Sri Lankan life, plus give them enough political clout that they will not need to take up arms again.


----------



## geo (22 Feb 2009)

Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran....boy - he certainly looks well fed.
Certainly does not look like the Biafran and Bengladeshi leaders of past.

If he threw the dice and had his two colonels fly the missions, there probably aren't any more planes or Pilots... unless he has a general up his sleeve.


----------



## Yrys (22 Feb 2009)

Civilian 'slaughter' in Sri Lanka, BBC News

The campaign group, Human Rights Watch, has accused the Sri Lankan army of "slaughter" 
and rebels of "brutality" towards civilians in the north-east.






Aid organisations have expressed deep 
concern for civilians

It called on the government to end its "indiscriminate artillery attacks" on civilians and 
its policy of "detaining displaced persons in internment camps". Human Rights Watch 
also condemned the Tamil Tigers for "increased brutality" towards trapped civilians.

The government and rebels both strongly deny targeting civilians.

Top UN humanitarian official John Holmes is currently in Sri Lanka and is visiting camps 
of displaced civilians in the north-east.

*'Propaganda'*

Human Rights Watch said that it had compiled a 45-page report based on a two-week 
fact-finding mission to northern Sri Lanka in February. It said "independent monitors" 
had told it that some 2,000 civilians had been killed and another 5,000 wounded in 
the past month.

James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This 'war' against 
civilians must stop. Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones 
and slaughtering the civilians there." Mr Ross said civilians who escaped were held 
"in squalid military-controlled camps" and the government seemed "to be trying its best 
to keep its role in their ordeal away from public scrutiny".

The government has not commented directly on the report but says it is doing all it can 
to avoid civilian casualties and accuses the rebels of using civilians as human shields.

Human Rights Watch also urged the Tamil Tigers to permit trapped civilians to leave 
the war zone and to "stop shooting at those who try to flee". Mr Ross said: "With each 
battlefield defeat, the Tamil Tigers appear to be treating Tamil civilians with increased 
brutality."

Both the Sri Lankan government and the UN have also accused the rebels of shooting 
civilians. Tamil Tiger political chief B Nadesan dismissed the accusations as "malicious 
propaganda".  "There are 300,000 people who want to stay with us because they are 
confident that we are their guardians," he said.

Independent journalists cannot travel to the war zone so claims on either side cannot 
be verified.

Mr Holmes is currently on a three-day visit. On Thursday he urged Sri Lanka's army 
and the Tamil Tigers to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. "I hope to 
hear no more of shootings of people trying to leave or recruitment of children as 
soldiers," he said.

The Sri Lankan defence ministry quoted Mr Holmes as saying the UN would help Sri Lanka 
to enable the return of normal life and normal democratic politics. Mr Nadesan told the BBC 
Sinhala service on Thursday the rebels were prepared to adhere to a ceasefire immediately
if the international community could create a "congenial environment".

The government has regularly dismissed any ceasefire and has vowed to crush the rebels.
Separately, the army said it had found diving equipment and underwater "scooters" used 
by rebel suicide bombers.






The equipment was found after fighting at the village of Ampalavanpokkanai on Thursday.

About 50,000 soldiers are pressing the Tamil Tigers into a patch of north-eastern jungle 
after taking the key areas of Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu.

The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland in the north and east for a quarter 
of a century.


----------



## Colin Parkinson (24 Feb 2009)

Imagine if the war is over, how many UN types will out of a job! better for everyone if the army wins completely and then works to help the local people.


----------



## geo (25 Feb 2009)

Imagine that !


----------



## Yrys (2 Mar 2009)

S Lanka rebels 'ready for truce', Monday, 23 February 2009





The Tigers are refusing to lay down
their weapons

Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have told the United Nations they are ready to comply 
with international calls for a ceasefire with government forces. But the rebels said they 
would not lay down their weapons, as the government has demanded. The Sri Lankan 
military said again that this must happen before the rebels could take part in negotiations.

The Tigers have been driven from most of the territory they held by an army offensive
in the past few weeks.


Many in the international community - including India and the leading international donor 
group headed by the US, EU, Japan and Norway - have urged the rebels to lay down their 
arms. EU foreign ministers renewed their call for a ceasefire on Monday, saying they were 
"deeply concerned about the evolving humanitarian crisis".

*'Painful'*

The offer of a truce was made by B Nadesan, the political head of the rebels, in a letter to 
the United Nations and the international community. "Already more than 2,000 civilians have 
been killed and more than 5,000 have been injured," Mr Nadesan wrote. "It is painful to see 
the world maintaining silence on this immense human suffering as if it is amused by what is 
going on."

Mr Nadesan said a ceasefire was needed to end the miseries of the Tamil people. "The LTTE 
[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] desires that this effort for a ceasefire... grows further into 
peace talks to seek a political solution to the ethnic conflict," he said. But he said that the 
Tigers would not consider disarming until "a permanent political solution is reached for the Tamil 
people, with the support and the guarantee of the international community".

Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brig Udaya Nanayakkara, told the BBC the government would 
not accept a conditional truce from the rebels.

Earlier this month the US, EU, Japan and Norway said the rebels should disarm and discuss ending
hostilities in order to avoid more civilian casualties.

Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona was quoted by Associated Press as saying on Monday: 
"Instead of surrendering as the entire international community and the Sri Lankan government 
has called them to do, [the rebels] are calling the very people who have asked them to surrender, 
to save their miserable skins."

India has also called on the rebels to lay down their arms and says it will assist in a civilian 
evacuation if asked.

In recent weeks, a major Sri Lankan army offensive has inflicted a series of defeats on the 
Tamil Tiger forces, pushing the rebels into a narrow area of jungle in the north of Sri Lanka.

About 70,000 people have died in the past 25 years as the Tigers have fought for a separate 
homeland in the north and east of the country.


----------



## Yrys (2 Mar 2009)

Sri Lanka in new truce rejection, Monday, 2 March 2009

The Sri Lankan government has rejected fresh calls for a temporary ceasefire 
with Tamil Tiger rebels. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told the BBC 
that if the rebels laid down their arms there would be no need for a halt in the 
fighting. He said a pause would only give the rebels time to regroup and 
consolidate in the north-east.

Reports of growing civilian casualties have prompted the UN, European Union 
and India to urge a ceasefire. The Tigers have been driven from most of the 
territory they held by an army offensive in the past few weeks.

*Resettlement*

"The pause is not going to give any benefit because it would only prolong the type 
of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) strengthening," Mr Bogollagama told the 
BBC. He said that the government would continue to take a line that met "humanitarian 
interests" and the concerns of those calling for a truce. 

Mr Bogollagama defended the restrictions placed on civilians in the camps that have 
been set up for those who have escaped the fighting. 

In a briefing to the UN Security Council a few days ago, its humanitarian chief, Sir John
Holmes, said the restrictions on the movement of civilians into and out of the camps 
were unacceptable.

But Mr Bogollagama said the restrictions had been put in place mainly for the safety of 
the civilians and promised that people would be resettled in their original homes in the 
due course of time.

India has been among those calling for a pause in hostilities to protect civilians.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement: "Sri Lanka should
seize the reported ceasefire offer by the Tamil Tigers to bring a halt in hostilities."

Last week, the Tigers told the United Nations they were ready to comply with international 
calls for a ceasefire. But they said they would not lay down their weapons, as the government 
has demanded.

In recent weeks, a major Sri Lankan army offensive has inflicted a series of defeats on the 
Tamil Tiger forces, pushing the rebels into a narrow area of jungle in the north of Sri Lanka.

About 70,000 people have died in the past 25 years as the Tigers have fought for a separate 
homeland in the north and east of the country.


----------



## CougarKing (4 Mar 2009)

The Tamil Tigers had midget submarines?!!!!   So this is yet more evidence that the LTTE is fighting a more of a conventional campaign against the Sri Lanka government than as an insurgency, aside from the fact that the LTTE have their own air element as well.



> Sri Lankan Defence Ministry on January 29, shows troops inspecting a submarine-type craft
> 
> 
> 
> ...





> Source: http://www.defpro.com/news/details/5242/
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Yrys (14 Mar 2009)

S Lanka medical base 'captured', Thursday, 12 March 2009





The army says the rebels are being 
pushed into a diminishing area

Sri Lankan troops have captured the last remaining medical facility held by Tamil Tiger rebels 
in the north, the army's military spokesman has said. Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said that the 
Tiger's makeshift hospital near Puthukkudiyiruppu was captured during heavy fighting on 
Wednesday.

The army says it has now confined the rebels to a 37 sq km (15 sq mile) area in the north-east.
There has been no word from the Tigers over the loss of the medical facility.

But the pro-rebel TamilNet website has accused the army of killing 133 civilians - including 49 
children - during shelling inside a government declared "safe zone" on Tuesday.

"The Sri Lankan army deployed internationally banned cluster munitions and fire-bombs against 
civilians who were stranded without shelter inside the 'safe zone' which has now become a killing 
field," TamilNet reported.

There is no way of confirming either side's claims. Independent journalists are not allowed in the 
war zone. Meanwhile, the rebels have strongly denied United Nations accusations that their fighters
misappropriated food sent for malnourished children.





Concern is mounting over the plight of 
civilians

The allegations came after the Sri Lankan defence ministry said it had found a high energy food 
supplement on a dead rebel fighter in the north. TamilNet quoted a senior rebel leader saying
 the UN statement would only help to discredit the Tamil Tigers.

*'Complete control'*

The army says that nearly all of the Tamil Tigers' top guerrillas, including leader Vellupillai 
Prabhakaran, are now fighting a desperate rearguard action in the diminishing area of land which 
they control. It says that some of these leaders are now personally commanding the battles. 
"We took complete control [of the medical facility] this morning," Brig Nanayakkara told The 
Associated Press. "The hospital building was intact, but we are not sure about any of the 
equipment."

He said that while there was heavy fighting during the operation, there was no word yet on 
casualties on either side.

The taking of the facility comes a day after the military said a senior rebel leader, Sabarathnam
Selvathurai, was killed in fighting in Puthukkudiyiruppu, believed to be the last major town held 
by the rebels. The army says he was killed by mortar fire.

Correspondents say that Mr Selvathurai is one of the oldest confidantes of Mr Prabhakaran, and 
was in charge of the rebels' vast international financing network. His death, if confirmed, is likely 
to lower their morale.

The army says that some troops are inside Puthukkudiyiruppu and have just a few kilometres to go
before they reach a lagoon on its eastern edge. Meanwhile concern is mounting over the plight of 
thousands of civilians inside and outside the war zone who are reported to be affected by heavy 
flooding and a shortage of food and medicine.

The government withdrew from a Norwegian-brokered truce at the beginning of 2008 after accusing
the Tigers of using the ceasefire to re-arm. It says the same thing will happen again if it responds 
to international calls to stop the latest fighting.

On Tuesday a suicide bombing in the south of the country killed at least 14 people. The attack was 
blamed on the rebels.

The Tamil Tigers have fought for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority since 1983.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war.


----------



## Yrys (14 Mar 2009)

UN fears Sri Lanka 'war crimes', Friday, 13 March 2009

Actions by Sri Lanka's government and the Tamil Tiger rebels may amount to war crimes, 
the United Nations says. UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Navi Pillay called on the 
two warring sides to suspend hostilities immediately in the island's north-east.

Describing the level of civilian deaths as "truly shocking", she warned it could reach 
"catastrophic" levels.





The UN believes 10,000 civilians have 
been killed or injured in two months

The government said it was "very disappointed" at the UN commissioner's "unprofessional 
statement". There was no immediate reaction from the rebels.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, by 
telephone that Washington was deeply concerned about deteriorating conditions and 
increasing loss of life in government-designated safe areas.

The army has pressed the rebels into a shrinking area amid heavy fighting, saying it is 
engaged in a final offensive to capture the last Tamil Tiger strongholds.

*'Thousands dead or injured'*

This is the UN's strongest message on the conflict so far, BBC Sri Lanka correspondent 
Anbarasan Ethirajan reports. "Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military 
and by the LTTE [Tigers] may constitute violations of international human rights and 
humanitarian law," said Ms Pillay.

She accused government forces of repeatedly shelling safe zones set up to protect civilians. 
Tamil Tigers, she said, had reportedly held civilians as human shields and fired on those who 
tried to flee. "The brutal and inhuman treatment of civilians by the LTTE is utterly reprehensible 
and should be examined to see if it constitutes war crimes," she continued.

According to what the UN called credible sources, more than 2,800 civilians may have been 
killed and 7,000 others wounded in the fighting over the last two months. Hundreds of children 
are believed to have died, Ms Pillay said, and more than a thousand have been injured.

The Sri Lankan minister for human rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said the government was 
surprised at the UN using what he called unsubstantiated figures about civilian casualties.
"We have very clearly stated that we have not at any time fired at the no-fire zone," he added.
"We are very disappointed and we are very surprised that this kind of unprofessional statement 
has been issued."

While there was no immediate response top the UN report from the Tigers, pro-rebel news 
website TamilNet accused government forces of killing 30 civilians and wounding 60 inside safe 
zones on Thursday alone. The assertions could not be verified independently.

*Separatist war*

The Tigers, who are proscribed as a terrorist group in many countries, started fighting in the 1970s 
for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east. They argued that the Tamils had been 
discriminated against by successive majority Sinhalese governments.

After army advances in the east in 2007 and progress in the north in 2008, most of Sri Lanka is now 
under government control. But despite the army's commanding position, the rebels have shown on 
innumerable occasions their capacity to fight a guerrilla war through the use of suicide bombings, 
assassinations and even aerial attacks carried out by planes operating from secret jungle bases.

The conflict has killed an estimated 70,000 people, displaced thousands more and held back the 
island's growth and economic development.

Both the military and the Tigers have been regularly accused of gross abuses of human rights by
organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. 

U.N. Rights Official Fears War Crimes in Sri Lanka, NY Times, March 13, 2009


----------



## Yrys (14 Mar 2009)

Sri Lanka troops 'kill 18 rebels', BBC News, Saturday, 14 March 2009





The defence ministry released images 
of slain rebels and their weapons

At least 18 Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed as Sri Lankan troops fought to take remaining 
guerrilla strongholds in the north-east, officials said. The defence ministry said troops also 
rescued nearly 60 civilians trying to flee the fighting in Mullaitivu.

There is no confirmation by the rebels. The clashes came as international concern mounts 
over civilian deaths in government-designated safe zones. The UN says both the army and 
the rebels may have committed war crimes.


'*War crimes'*

Sri Lanka on Saturday rejected the UN allegations and vowed there would be no cease-fire 
in its drive to capture the shrinking rebel enclave and end the 25-year-old civil war. A 
report on Friday from UN human rights chief Navi Pillay also warned that civilian casualties 
could reach "catastrophic" proportions if the two sides do not suspend fighting.

But Sri Lanka's Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, questioned charges in the 
report that 2,800 civilians had been killed and more than 7,000 wounded since 20 January.
"It is very, very unprofessional to rely on such unsubstantiated figures. What is dismaying 
to us is the figures correspond to the figures put forward by (the pro-rebel Web site) 
Tamilnet and LTTE front groups," Mr Samarsinghe told a news conference, referring to 
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The UN report also said the army has repeatedly shelled inside the "no-fire" zones - an 
allegation Mr Samarsinghe denied.

*US pressure*

Also on Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called President Mahinda 
Rajapaksa to express "deep US concern" over deteriorating conditions and increasing loss 
of life in the safe zones, a state department statement said. She also condemned the rebels 
for using civilians as shields against government attacks and shooting civilians who try to 
leave.

Rebel officials could not be reached for comment. Most communication to the north has been 
severed, and accounts of the fighting could not be verified because independent journalists 
are barred from the war zone.

The LTTE has fought since 1983 for an independent state for the Tamil minority, which suffered 
decades of marginalisation at the hands of governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority. 
More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.


----------



## Yrys (14 Mar 2009)

Vital Tamil clinic 'could close', BBC News, Saturday, 14 March 2009





Sri Lanka's army is trying to take over 
rebel strongholds in the area

The last major medical facility in Tamil-held territory has almost stopped functioning 
due to a medicine shortage, a Sri Lankan health official says.

Dr T Varatharaja says the closure of the hospital would put the lives of thousands of 
sick and injured people in the conflict zone at extreme risk. His warning comes amid 
increasing international concern for civilians caught in fighting in the north-east.

Sri Lanka's army is trying to take over rebel strongholds in the area. It is estimated 
that between 70,000 and 200,000 civilians are caught up in the conflict zone.

Dr T Varatharaja said there was a severe shortage of essential medicine, which was 
forcing the hospital to shut down most of its operations.

However, a senior Sri Lankan government official said some of the medicine requested 
by the hospital had already been sent to the nearest major town and would be delivered 
once the defence ministry authorised the move.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been warning of an impending 
humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the conflict zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka and 
has called for a mass evacuation of civilians.

The government maintains that it has continued to send food and medicine to the people 
inside the rebel-controlled territory and rejects allegations of a possible catastrophe.


----------



## Yrys (24 Mar 2009)

Sri Lanka fury at 'aid coalition'






The Sri Lankan government has attacked what it calls a "vicious coalition" of aid and humanitarian 
agencies for their actions over the country's civil war. The defence ministry said those "pretending 
to be humanitarian and aid agencies" were prolonging the conflict "to secure their income".

Rights and aid groups have continued to criticise both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels over 
civilian casualties. A new Human Rights Watch report again condemns "indiscriminate shelling".

*'Hardcore cadre'*

The defence ministry website said the "vicious coalition" that had "been pretending to be 
humanitarian agencies, aid agencies, free media, civil rights movements, etc, have made 
the continued bloodshed on Sri Lankan soil a lucrative business for them". It said the goal 
was "to ensure that the [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's] war would never end at any cost".

The ministry accused the Care International group of being part of the "abominable conspiracy".

Care last week reported that a local worker was killed by shellfire in a government-designated 
"no-fire" zone.

The ministry said "very reliable sources" indicated the man was "a hardcore LTTE cadre". 

Care country director Nick Osborne told Associated Press news agency the issue was "very 
sensitive". "Our response at this moment is to respect the loss of a staff member and give 
our thoughts to his family," Mr Osborne said.

The ministry's attack came as Human Rights Watch said there were reports "of civilians 
being killed and wounded daily in the no-fire zone, while the Sri Lankan government continues 
to deny the attacks". Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, also said: "The Tamil Tigers' use 
of civilians as human shields adds to the bloodshed."

The UN's human rights chief Navanethem Pillay - currently in Delhi - has appealed to the Sri 
Lankan government to allow independent human rights monitors to assess the situation in the 
north and provide better protection for civilians. "So far I have not got any response [from the 
government], she said, "but I am going to carry on pressing for it."

The influential chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry has also now
written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, saying he had "grave concerns" at reports of army 
shellfire in civilian areas.

The pro-rebel website TamilNet has consistently accused the army of shelling civilians.
It said another 96 civilians were killed in the designated safety zone on Monday.

No independent journalists can travel to the war zone so information provided by either side 
cannot be verified.

The recent Sri Lankan military offensive has restricted the rebels to a small section of jungle 
in the north-east.


----------



## Yrys (13 Apr 2009)

Sri Lanka civilians tell of war ordeal, BBC News, Monday, 6 April 2009





_Civilians on a Red Cross-supervised ship are disembarked for treatment_

Civilians fleeing the area in north-east Sri Lanka where Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces 
are in fierce conflict have been telling the BBC of the ordeal of life under almost constant gunfire.
Added to the intense shelling there is an acute shortage of water, food and medicine.

The civilians also confirmed the long-levelled accusations by human rights groups that the Tigers 
are forcefully recruiting young children and are stopping people from moving out to 
government-controlled areas. Some of the injured civilians from Wanni have been brought to 
Pulmoddai hospital in Trincomalee district on a ship under the supervision of the Red Cross.

After receiving initial treatment in a medical facility manned by a medical team from India, 
patients are sent to various hospitals in the north for further treatment.

*Child recruitment*

The BBC Tamil service secured rare access to some of the civilians who had arrived at Pulmoddai 
hospital, accompanying injured relatives. Sridharan is one of more than 800 civilians who have 
arrived in the past few days on the ship. He is hoping to get medical treatment for his three-year-old
son Vidushan. "My wife was killed last Friday in a shell attack. My son was injured. He has an injury 
in his back. Living conditions are getting very bad there. We had nothing to eat for the last five days.
Prices are going up every day," he said. A doctor at Pulmoddai hospital said some patients had lost 
limbs and most had shellfire injuries.

The area designated by the Sri Lankan government as a "safe zone" is about 20 sq km of coastal 
land in Mullaitivu district. The government on Sunday said the Tigers no longer controlled any area 
beyond this. Estimates of the number of civilians trapped in the area vary from 50,000 to 200,000.
The Sri Lankan government and other international organisations have repeatedly urged the rebels 
to free civilians in the conflict zone. The Tamil Tigers say the people are choosing to stay. 

Independent journalists are not allowed to go to the war zone.

The Tigers have continuously denied accusations of recruiting children. But the recent batch of 
patients who reached Pulmoddai say rebels are showing no mercy and are taking away as many 
people as possible from families.

One civilian, Kauruppaiah Ganapathipillai, said: "The Tigers are increasing the recruitment of children. 
Now one cannot even send the children out to fetch water. "They are even taking 14-year-old kids. 
In some cases which I know they have taken four to five people from the same family. There is 
continuous shelling. Scores are dying every day." Sources from a local hospital say hundreds of 
civilians die every week due to shell attacks.

The Tigers have accused the army of regular and indiscriminate shelling of civilians but the military 
denies this.

The UN and aid agencies have accused the government of not taking enough measures to protect 
civilians caught in the conflict zone.

*Head injury*

Moving to government-controlled areas is not an easy option for trapped civilians.

One woman who fled, Pakkiyavathi, said: "People take great risks to escape. They have to walk 
for days braving shelling. If [Tamil Tiger] cadres spot them they will fire at them. "A few days ago 
more than 200 people tried to cross over to the government-controlled areas on their own. [Tamil 
Tiger] cadres fired at them, one was killed." The civilians also say that most of the houses and shops 
have been destroyed and it seems that there are only a few wells to meet drinking water needs.

One civilian, Shanmugaraja, says his wife was hit by a shell five days ago and sustained a serious 
head injury. He says by coming to Pulmoddai hospital her chances of survival have improved.

"A piece of pellet is still inside her head. It is very difficult to live there. We had nothing to eat. In 
the [Tamil Tiger] controlled area there is no electricity and a big shortage of water. You have to wait 
in long queues to get water. People think [the Tigers] are losing but many don't feel sad about this," 
he said.

There remains no guarantee that life will change for the better once the civilians cross to government-
controlled areas. One mother, paralysed from the waist down, told her story to an NGO supported 
by Christian Aid after she reached a government camp. "My husband was pushing me on a bicycle, 
searching for safe areas. In the worst of the fighting we lost the bicycle - I was in a bad situation. 
Ultimately we all had to scatter and the family was separated.

"Somehow we were able to get out of the war zone and reach a safer place. We were then locked 
up in a fenced area, isolated from the people outside. But we were alive." She added: "We are 
prevented from freely meeting with visitors. Even if we can make contact with family outside, 
all we can do is talk to them through the wire fence. "The people are suffering under these rigid 
restrictions. Wives, husbands, children, friends are kept apart and cannot share their painful 
feelings or support each other."

The Sri Lankan government has promised to improve the conditions in the camps. Due to the 
intense fighting over the past few months a number of families have been displaced many times, 
some more than a dozen. Most of them have lost everything they had.

One elderly lady, Kanagasabapathi Rasamma, broke down while narrating her journey. "We have 
come from Pudumathalan hospital. There is fighting everywhere, bombing and deaths… Oh God 
how much we have suffered… What we did to endure this… Nobody is there to save us. No-one 
is helping us," she said.


----------



## Yrys (13 Apr 2009)

S Lanka denies safe-zone shelling, BBC News, Friday, 10 April 2009





_Sri Lanka's army says it has restricted 
the rebels to the safe zone_

The Sri Lankan government has again strongly denied government forces have been shelling 
a designated "safe zone" for civilians in the north-east. Sri Lanka's health minister told the 
BBC Tamil Tiger rebels were responsible for spreading false propaganda.

Rebel sources say civilian deaths have occurred due to army shelling of the safe zone set up 
to protect tens of thousands of civilians.

The military says the rebels are now confined to the safe zone. The Sri Lankan military says 
it has captured all rebel-held territory outside the zone after days of intense fighting. The 
zone is a small stretch of about 20 sq km of coastal land in Mullaitivu district.

*'Hostages'*

Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva's robust defence comes a day after a senior health 
official in Mullaitivu district said some 60 civilians had died in army shelling of the zone. The 
version given by the health official inside the safe zone cannot be independently verified as 
journalists are not allowed to enter it. 

The government says doctors in the safe zone have been under pressure from the rebels 
to exaggerate civilian casualties. "These health officials are being held hostage by the 
[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)]," the health minister said. "They will not be able 
to survive there... their families would have been killed by the LTTE if they don't make 
statements in favour of the LTTE." There has been no reaction from the Tamil Tigers so far.

The minister also accused the international community of being misled by the rebels. It was 
"high time", he said, that the United Nations and other international agencies believed what 
the government was saying. Meanwhile, the New York-based human rights group, Human 
Rights Watch, said Sri Lanka's "so-called no-fire-zone is now one of the most dangerous 
places in the world".

"The Sri Lankan government should stop firing heavy artillery into the 'no-fire zone' in the 
northern Vanni area, where some 100,000 civilians are trapped," by the Tamil Tigers, causing
"skyrocketing casualties," it said in a statement. The government denies any such shelling.

"The military is not attacking this particular zone with artillery or with any other weapons. 
It is very clear that the government and the military do not want any civilian casualties," 
Mr De Silva said. "Because we have almost won the war against terrorism in Sri Lanka, we 
don't want that to be spoiled at the last moment."

On Thursday night, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Sri Lankan President 
Mahinda Rajapaksa to discuss the issue of civilian casualties. A statement from Mr Rajapaksa's 
office said the president had told Mr Ban "the suffering of the civilians was due to the LTTE 
continuing to hold them hostage and as human shields, ignoring the many calls by the UN 
and humanitarian organisations to free them".

The United Nations says more than 2,800 civilians may have been killed and 7,000 injured in 
fighting in the past two months. The government disputes these figures.

The UN has also accused the rebels of preventing civilians from leaving the war zone, saying 
there were credible reports that Tamil Tigers were shooting at those attempting to flee. The 
rebels deny the accusations.


----------



## Yrys (13 Apr 2009)

Sri Lanka Orders Halt to Fighting Circled Rebels, NY Times, April 12, 2009

NEW DELHI — Having rebuffed international appeals to protect civilians trapped in a war zone 
in its northeast, the Sri Lankan government on Sunday ordered a two-day “pause” in fighting.

An estimated 100,000 ethnic Tamils are trapped in a deadly and shrinking five-square-mile 
wedge of land in northeastern Sri Lanka, where the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, 
or Tamil Tigers, fighting for an ethnic homeland for 25 years, have effectively held them hostage 
as a civilian shield. Human Rights Watch estimates that 3,000 people have been killed since January 
alone, making the area what the group calls “one of the most dangerous places in the world.”

The Sri Lankan government, in what it says is its final push to defeat the rebels, also known 
as the L.T.T.E., has been under pressure to stop shelling areas where it knows civilians are trapped. 
On Sunday, a statement from President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office announced a 48-hour halt to 
gunfire to allow civilians to leave the region. It coincides with the ethnic Tamil and Sinhala New Year.

“It is timely for the L.T.T.E. to acknowledge its military defeat and lay down its weapons and 
surrender,” the president said in a statement posted on the government Web site.

The United Nations and the United States have repeatedly called on Sri Lanka not to shell the area.
The Security Council has been briefed about the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka, but it stopped 
short of taking up a formal discussion on the conflict. China, one of Sri Lanka’s central backers, 
is not eager for United Nations involvement.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, described the government cease-fire as a 
“useful first step” but said he hoped for a longer halt in fighting. He called on the rebels to let 
civilians leave the war zone and on the government to treat the displaced in accordance with 
international law. The United Nations wants the government to let camps of displaced people 
be run by civilians, not military officials, and to allow humanitarian agencies free access to 
the displaced.

The Tamil Tigers have insisted on a cease-fire, and their supporters in the vocal Tamil diaspora 
have protested in cities around the world in recent days, storming the Sri Lankan Embassy in 
Oslo on Sunday. The Tamil Tigers and their supporters have maintained that Tamils are remaining 
behind the front line voluntarily, although pictures and testimonies emerging from the war zone 
suggest otherwise. The Sri Lankan government does not allow journalists to go anywhere near 
the conflict zone. The rebels did not respond Sunday to the government’s unilateral offer of a 
temporary stop to the fighting.


----------



## Yrys (13 Apr 2009)

Holiday truce begins in Sri Lanka, BBC News, Monday, 13 April 2009

Sri Lanka's armed forces are on orders to suspend attacks on Tamil rebels for 48 hours as 
the country's communities celebrate New Year. The truce which came into effect at midnight 
(1830 GMT Sunday) is meant to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone in the north-east safely.

Troops fighting the Tamil Tigers, whose response to the truce is not known, were told only 
to fire if attacked. The UN welcomed the pause as a chance to help civilians and deliver aid.

Sri Lanka's authorities have been under growing international pressure to allow time for tens 
of thousands of trapped civilians to leave the war zone safely, the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan 
reports from the capital, Colombo. The military says it has captured the entire Tamil Tiger-held 
territory in the north and pushed the rebels into a government-designated safe zone for civilians.

Thousands of people, mostly Tamils, have been protesting in Western capitals to demand a 
ceasefire. Demonstrators occupied the Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo for about five minutes on 
Sunday, Norwegian police said. The government later apologised for failing to stop the crowd, 
put at about 100.

*'A good first step'*

President Mahinda Rajapakse called the truce after a cabinet meeting. Foreign Minister Rohitha 
Bogollagama told the BBC that government forces would not engage in any offensive operations 
during the two-day Sinhala and Tamil New Year period. He said the decision was taken to allow 
time for civilians to leave the war zone safely.

The defence ministry says security forces have surrounded the no-fire zone on all three sides 
and troops are now poised to enter the area to rescue the civilians.

UN humanitarian envoy John Holmes told the BBC he hoped the truce would mean more aid being
allowed into the conflict zone. He hoped the Tigers would allow "people a free choice about whether 
they leave the area or not, which is crucial because the civilians are suffering so much in that zone".

"We would have liked a longer pause than this, a genuine humanitarian pause of a longer period than 
two days but this is a good first step," he added.


----------



## old medic (20 Apr 2009)

Sri Lanka's army helps thousands flee battle zone
By Krishan Francis, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/04/20/9173866-ap.html



> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - The army breached one of the last Tamil Tiger rebel fortifications Monday and freed thousands of trapped civilians, some fleeing through the neck-high water of a lagoon while bleeding or carrying wounded relatives.
> 
> The government warned the rebels they had 24 hours to surrender or face a final assault to end a crumbling 25-year insurgency that sought to create a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils on this South Asian island.
> 
> ...


----------



## CougarKing (22 Apr 2009)

Another update: the surviving top LTTE leaders have surrendered!



> Agence France-Presse - 4/22/2009 1:27 PM GMT
> Top Tamil rebels surrender to Sri Lankan troops
> Two key Tamil Tiger officials surrendered Wednesday as Sri Lankan troops pressed a final offensive against the rebels despite a global outcry over the fate of civilians trapped in the war zone.
> 
> ...


----------



## Colin Parkinson (24 Apr 2009)

The UN is claiming 6500 civilians killed by both sides over the last 3 months. It seems all the “usual suspects” are in a panic to create a ceasefire in order to “save the civilians” I think they must feel the need to save the LTTE from utter destruction, something I hope they are unsuccessful at. Having the LTTE wiped out creates the lasting conditions for a peace, dispels the myth that a “insurgency can’t be beaten by military means” . 
Frankly I want to see the world pressure the Sri Lankan government in ensuring the Tamils are well treated after the conflict and that aid agencies can set up refugee processing camps for the civilians escaping the fighting so they can be treated, fed and returned to their homes.  I also want to see international assistance towards the post conflict rebuilding to help prevent conditions that would encourage the rise of another insurgency and combined with the utter destruction of the LTTE will help guarantee peace in the region for many years.


----------



## CougarKing (25 Apr 2009)

Devastation on Sri Lanka front line

It appears that most of the rebels still haven't surrendered and the Sri Lankan Army has begun their final assault on the LTTE.


----------



## CougarKing (25 Apr 2009)

Here are some pics from the front just from a number of days ago, before the offensive resumed:







_Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa (L) shakes hands with Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka after arriving in the northern town of Kilinochchi April 16, 2009 during a one-day visit to the defence force based in the war-torn north of the country. Sri Lanka's two-day humanitarian truce ended on Wednesday and the military announced it was now free to begin a final assault to end the 25-year war against the rebel Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lankan military says only 1,000 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels remain, and accuse the fighters of holding around 100,000 civilians as human shields. REUTERS/Sri Lankan Government/Handout_






_Sri Lankan soldiers stand next to a recaptured Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) tank and other weapons during a visit by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the defence force base in the northern Sri Lankan town of Kilinochchi April 16, 2009. Sri Lanka's two-day humanitarian truce ended on Wednesday and the military announced it was now free to begin a final assault to end the 25-year war against the rebel Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lankan military says only 1,000 LTTE rebels remain, and they accuse the fighters of holding around 100,000 civilians as human shields. REUTERS/Sri Lankan Government/Handout_






_Sri Lankan soldiers stand next to weapons they claim they had captured from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces during a visit to the defence force base by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the northern Sri Lankan town of Kilinochchi April 16, 2009. Sri Lanka's two-day humanitarian truce ended on Wednesday and the military announced it was now free to begin a final assault to end the 25-year war against the rebel Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lankan military says only 1,000 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels remain, and accuse the fighters of holding around 100,000 civilians as human shields. REUTERS/Sri Lankan Government/Handout_











_A Sri Lankan soldier looks through a pair of binoculars while manning an anti-aircraft gun located atop a tower near the Presidential residence in central Colombo April 17, 2009. India asked Sri Lanka on Friday to extend a pause in war hostilities to enable civilians trapped in the conflict to leave for secure areas, saying the fate of Tamils could not be ignored.
REUTERS/David Gray (SRI LANKA MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS)_






_An armed Sri Lankan policeman patrols along the seashore near the Presidential residence in central Colombo April 17, 2009. India asked Sri Lanka on Friday to extend a pause in war hostilities to enable civilians trapped in the conflict to leave for secure areas, saying the fate of Tamils could not be ignored.
REUTERS/David Gray (SRI LANKA MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS)_






_A Sri Lankan naval boat crewman rests on a gun as it sails past another naval boat whilst they patrol the coastal waters off the city of Colombo April 19, 2009. Britain said on Saturday it was gravely concerned about fighting between government forces and Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka and had sent an envoy to the United Nations for urgent talks. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the conflict in northern Sri Lanka threatened many thousands of civilian lives and repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire to allow civilians to leave the conflict area.
REUTERS/David Gray(SRI LANKA MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS)_






_A Sri Lankan army soldier keeps guard at a checkpoint in Piliyandala suburb of Colombo on April 17. Sri Lankan security forces captured a defence line of cornered Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday and rescued at least 5,000 civilians being held as human shields, a military spokesman said. (AFP/File/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi)_


----------



## CougarKing (26 Apr 2009)

At least this has demonstrated the Colombo government's resolve to finally eradicate the Tamil Tiger insurgency once and for all.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/26/sri.lanka/index.html



> *Sri Lanka rejects Tamil Tigers cease-fire*
> Story Highlights
> Government says it will continue offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels
> 
> ...


----------



## CougarKing (10 May 2009)

In spite of the large number of deaths caused by an artillery barrage as described below, the offensive seems to be still going forward.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090510/world/sri_lanka_civil_war



> *Hundreds of Sri Lankan civilians reported killed in artillery barrage*
> Sun May 10, 6:02 AM
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## CougarKing (11 May 2009)

_A Sri Lankan naval patrol boat floats in front of a container ship as it sails towards the port in Colombo May 6, 2009. The U.N. Security Council said it saw no point withholding an IMF loan of US$1.9 billion or taking other steps to punish Sri Lanka, the council's president said last week, to allow a truce in the 25-year civil war so civilians trapped in a tiny area the Tamil Tiger rebels still hold can escape. Sri Lanka looks to the loan to help weather the global economic crisis and pay for postwar reconstruction.
REUTERS/David Gray (SRI LANKA CONFLICT TRANSPORT BUSINESS POLITICS)_






_In this photo taken on Saturday, May 9, 2009, a boat carrying displaced Sri Lankan ethnic Tamils sails towards a passenger ferry, top left, charted by International Committee of Red Cross at Mullivaaykaal, Sri Lanka. (AP Photo)_






_A Sri Lankan military vehicle drives along the streets of Vavuniya on May 7. The Tamil Tiger rebels have accused the Sri Lankan government of killing more than 2,000 civilians in 24 hours of artillery attacks, but the military denied the allegations.
(AFP/File)_






_A policeman stands guard as a military vehicle pass through the streets of Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka. The UN has condemned the killing of civilians in the island state at the weekend as a "bloodbath" in which more than 100 children have died, as the government and Tamil Tiger rebels traded blame for the attacks.
(AFP/File/Pedro Ugarte)_






_Sri Lankan soldiers stand guard near the rebel-held area in northeast on May 2, 2009. Sri Lankan soldiers have overrun another Tamil Tiger defence line standing between government troops and the small strip of territory still held by the ethnic rebels, the defence ministry said Friday.
(AFP/File/Line Wolf Nielsen)_


----------



## geo (12 May 2009)

After fighting the Tamis Tigers for 25 years, the Sri-Lankan government have had enough and have taken steps to finish this fight once and for all.

If the Gov't had conceeded to global pressure tactics and allowed Tamil Tigers to escape / vanish into the mass of displaced persons - what would be the cost in lives and destructions over the next 25 years of the same conflict.

The winding up of this insurection may cost some lives now - but once it is done, it will be done and over with.


----------



## CougarKing (17 May 2009)

So is this finally the end of this insurgency?



> http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090516/world/international_us_srilanka_war
> 
> 
> Sri Lanka says Tigers defeated
> ...


----------



## CougarKing (17 May 2009)

And even the Tamil Tigers have admitted defeat.



> http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090517/world/international_us_srilanka_war
> 
> Sri Lanka's long war reaches climax, Tigers concede
> 
> ...


----------



## Old Sweat (17 May 2009)

And now for something completely different. In 1971 as part of my takeover in CFHQ, I was informed that we had a Commodore in then Ceylon advising its government on countering the infiltration of insurgents from India. This mission was the result of a Prime Minister to Prime Minister request at some time in the recent past. As I recall, after he returned to Canada there was a short story in the press which soon disappeared from memory.

Events may have come full circle, and it only took 38 years.


----------



## Infanteer (17 May 2009)

I have a sneaking suspicion that the magnitude of the victory claims by the Sri Lanken government will be inversely proportional to the time it takes for a bomb to go off by a government building.  The Tamils may have lost conventionally, but the war of the flea is still a viable tactic for the recalcitrant who don't see defeat in the field as total.


----------



## Colin Parkinson (17 May 2009)

Actually i suspect that the LTTE as any kind of force has lost the confidence of the people it is supposed to support, in which case they will be a fish out of water. The Sri Lanakan army has a breif window to reduce any chance of support for the LTTE, by how it handles the displaced persons and refugees. If done right, they show the civilian Tamils that they don't need to fear the Sri Lankan government. Done wrong, the whole cycle continues.


----------



## CougarKing (18 May 2009)

_This photograph released by the Sri Lankan military on May 15, 2009 shows what the army says is equipment they captured from Tamil Tiger rebels inside the 'No Fire Zone' where they have surrounded the rebels for the final battle in a quarter-century conflict. Sri Lankan troops on Saturday seized the entire coastline for the first time in its 25-year war with the Tamil Tigers, the military said, cutting off escape for separatist rebels now facing total destruction. QUALITY FROM SOURCE. REUTERS/Sri Lankan Government/Handout (SRI LANKA SOCIETY MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT)_






_Sri Lankan troops in a newly-captured area in Mullaittivu district after destroying Tamil Tiger defences. Sri Lankan troops on Saturday captured the last patch of coastline held by the Tamil Tigers and the rebels would shortly be left without any territory, a top military source said. (AFP/SLDM-HO/File)_








_A Sri Lankan Army photo shows government troops in northeastern Mullaittivu district. Sri Lanka has vowed to kill or capture the remnants of the Tamil Tiger army, with an intensive search underway for the leader of the defeated rebels.
(AFP/HO)_






_A Sri Lankan Army photo shows government troops inspecting a heavy weapon captured from Tamil Tiger guerrillas in northeastern Mullaittivu district. Sri Lanka's military said that troops had killed three senior Tamil Tiger militants and found the body of the son of the rebels' leader in mopping-up operations after the movement's defeat. (AFP/Sri Lanka Army/Ho)_






_This handout photograph dated Saturday, May 16, 2009, provided by Sri Lanka's army, shows a soldier walking on the coastline next to a boat the army says, was used by Tamil Tiger rebels close to the war front in Kariyalamullivaikkal, Sri Lanka.
(AP Photo/Sri Lanka Army)_











_In this photograph released by the Sri Lankan military on May 16, 2009 shows what the army says is a captured Tamil Tiger gun-boat on a beach inside the 'No Fire Zone' where they have surrounded the Tamil Tiger rebels for the final battle in a quarter-century conflict. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday said the Tamil Tigers had been militarily defeated as soldiers seized control of the entire coastline for the first time in a 25-year war. Rajapaksa spoke after troops took control of the Indian Ocean island nation's entire coast for the first time since war broke out in 1983, cutting off the Tigers' last hope of escape from a military advance aimed at crushing separatist resistance. REUTERS/Sri Lankan Government/Handout_






_This handout photograph provided by Sri Lanka's army, dated Saturday, May 16, 2009, shows Sri Lankan soldiers carrying their national flag, center, along with their unit flags at a site they say is the last strong hold of the Tamil tiger rebels close to the war front in Kariyalamullivaikkal, Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Sri Lanka Army) _


----------



## Yrys (18 May 2009)

Sri Lankan rebel leader 'killed', Monday, 18 May 2009 15:31 UK

Profile: Velupillai Prabhakaran

The leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been killed, 
the military says. It said Prabhakaran - along with two of his top commanders - had 
died while trying to flee from the last rebel-held patch of jungle in the north-east.

The military said it had crushed the Tamil Tigers, ending the rebels' 26-year insurgency.

No photos of Prabhakaran's body have been released. The army says it is working to 
identify it among the dead. The claims cannot be verified as reporters are barred 
from the war zone. European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels condemned 
civilian casualties and called for an inquiry into alleged war crimes by both sides.

*Ambush*

Over the past few weeks Sri Lankan forces routed the rebels, overrunning their territory. 
Army chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka said on Monday: "Today we finished the work handed 
to us by the president to liberate the country from the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil 
Eelam)." 

Military officials said Prabhakaran had been killed along with his intelligence chief Pottu 
Amman and Soosai, the head of the rebels' naval wing. They were shot dead in an ambush 
in the Mullivaikal district while trying to escape the war zone in an ambulance, the general 
added. The government's information department also sent news of Prabhakaran's death by 
text message to mobile phones across the country.

Later on Monday, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse reaffirmed the government's 
victory during in a televised ceremony. "We have successfully ended the war," he is quoted 
as saying by AFP news agency.

Earlier, at least three senior rebel leaders were killed, including Prabhakaran's eldest son, 
Charles Anthony, the military said. State TV broadcast images of what it said was Charles 
Anthony's body.

The military said 250 Tamil Tigers had been also killed overnight. n the past few days, the 
LTTE had been hemmed into a 300 sq m (3,230 sq ft) patch of land - a tiny part of the 
15,000 sq km territory they had controlled until recently.

The BBC's world affairs correspondent Adam Mynott says Prabhakaran was a shadowy figure, 
constantly under the threat of arrest or assassination. He says he fashioned a ruthless and 
uncompromising fighting force, which assassinated several Sri Lankan political leaders and 
the former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

Under Prabhakaran's leadership the LTTE was branded a terrorist organisation by many 
countries, and he was wanted by Interpol - the global police network - for murder, terrorism, 
organised crime and conspiracy.

*Anger and jubilation*

There is still widespread international concern about civilians who may have been caught up 
in the fighting. Sources in the UN say significant numbers of civilians were still in the combat 
zone but the Sri Lankan government said all civilians had left.

There have been street celebrations in the capital, Colombo, but also an angry demonstration 
against Britain, with protestors accusing it of seeking to help the rebels by earlier calling for 
a ceasefire. More than 1,000 Sri Lankans protested outside the British High Commission. Some 
protesters threw stones and burnt an effigy of UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband. A High 
Commission spokesman said it was "an outrage" that the Sri Lankan authorities let the 
demonstration become so violent.

The Tigers had been fighting for a separate state for Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka 
since the 1970s. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict and thousands displaced.


----------



## Yrys (18 May 2009)

Tamils hunt for news of relatives

Many Sri Lankan Tamils around the world say they are unable to find out information 
about their loved ones in the war-torn north-east, reports Swaminathan Natarajan of 
the BBC Tamil service.

Thomas Cruz says he is undergoing treatment for depression and that his health has 
been badly affected by what is happening in north-eastern Sri Lanka. For more than 
six months all the telephone lines to the rebel-controlled areas, except the official lines 
connecting government offices and hospitals, have been cut off.

But some Sri Lankan Tamils there have been able to speak to relatives abroad via 
satellite phones provided by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr Cruz, who 
is living in London and seeking asylum, says his mother and sister were living in the 
shrinking area controlled by the rebels.

"My mother is old and suffers from diabetes. She can hardly walk. She was displaced 
many times. When she called me last, she told me there was no medicine even for 
ordinary fever and a shortage of food and other essentials. "I have no idea where she 
is. I hope my sister is taking care of her. Whenever I see the news, I get disturbed. 
Every day scores are getting killed. When I think about this I am not able to sleep at 
all," he says.

*Relief camps*

More than 110,000 civilians are estimated to have left the war zone in the past three 
weeks, since the Sri Lankan army destroyed earth-work defences built by the Tigers.

But 50,000 people are estimated to be still trapped, according to the United Nations. 
Many civilians became separated from their families when trying to cross over to the 
government-controlled areas. Those who made it out safe have been housed in relief 
camps set up by the government in Vavuniya.

Pathmanathan Vasegaran, a student studying in Manchester in north-west England, lost 
contact with his family two months ago. "My relatives who reached Vavuniya camp have 
passed on information that my parents are still in the LTTE-controlled area. When I last 
spoke to my family, they said they were living in a bunker covered by a tent.

"When I get up in the morning, the first thing I see is the news. I study the list of those 
killed and injured. Now since the death toll is going up, they are not giving names and 
other details. I used to watch TV footage in the hope of spotting them. "I used to send 
money to them via the LTTE, but now even that is not possible," he says.

The options of using these illegal channels is drying up and Tamil relatives want the 
Sri Lankan government to help them to send money to their loved ones in the Vavuniya 
camp.

*Post offices*

The government says it has opened banks in a relief village (where camps of the displaced 
are located) and promised to open more branches in other camps too. Minister of Resettlement 
and Disaster Relief Services Rishad Bathiudeen says telephone lines are working in about 15 
camps and more will be added to help the displaced.

"We have given a telephone connection to one of the newly established relief villages; another 
three will be connected within a week. We will also be opening post offices in the relief camps. 
This will help them to communicate with their relatives," he says.

"We are yet to complete the registration of the people who have come to these camps. Once that 
is done anyone who needs information about their relatives can contact my ministry or the 
concerned government agency to get details," Mr Bathiudeen says.

But many Sri Lankan Tamils abroad are not convinced by the government's assurances. Some, 
like Lakshmi Jayakumar, who took part in recent protests held in Parliament Square in London, 
wants more action from the international community to end the sufferings of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

"Some of our relatives are in Wanni. We were not able to speak to them after December. A few 
of them were in Valingarmadam. In February, my second cousin's daughter Kanimozhi was killed 
there. We saw her photo in a web-based news portal. After that I called up another relative in 
Lanka who confirmed the news.

"When I think about the fate of my relatives back home, I am not even able to cook for my 
children here," says Lakshmi.


----------



## Yrys (18 May 2009)

Peace hopes grip Sri Lankans, Monday, 18 May 2009 22:21 UK





_Many jubilant Sri Lankans believe 
the conflict is all over_

The national flags are out. They are decking the streets, sold in clusters on street corners, 
fluttering from the auto rickshaws, waved by men in a pick-up truck. On the streets of 
Colombo there is jubilation and smiling faces as the firecrackers are lit.

"I'm very very happy. After 30 years we've won… victory, I suppose!" says a young woman 
in Pettah, an old market area near the city centre, almost in surprise. She says she is proud 
of the president and intends to go home and put out flags.

Not only Sinhalese but also Tamil, Muslim and other people tell the BBC they are relieved.
For decades they had feared boarding buses or visiting temples, some said, for fear of 
bombs. Now they hope there will be peace. 'Pride'

There is patriotic satisfaction, too, in website postings by Sri Lankans. "Sri Lanka Rockz," 
says one. Some take pride in the military. "Every time we all are with you, our great 
warriors... One nation - One flag - Sri Lanka."

The army says its operations are ended, that rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead 
and troops now hold all of the island's territory for the first time since 1983.

Such news will have been greeted almost with disbelief by Sri Lankans, many of whom 
were born into war or barely remember the time before it. "We're part of history!" says 
another posting. "Today is the first day of my life I'm living in a Sri Lanka where there is 
no war."

A taxi driver expresses the view that, with the top Tamil Tiger leaders out of the picture, 
bomb blasts really will become a thing of the past.

But will they?

*End of the road*

Some commentators have predicted that, after their military defeat, the Tigers will 
concentrate more on their hallmark bombing tactics - saying this will be made possible 
by the cells they maintain. But one expert tells the BBC he does not accept that argument.

Maybe there will be stray cases, he says, but with so many of the top LTTE [Tamil Tigers] 
leaders reportedly killed by the army, he does not see what Tamils would want to kill 
themselves for. After all, according to Prabhakaran's biographer MR Narayan Swamy, 
for the Tigers he was "their brain… their heart… their god… their soul".

Indeed, asked whether they would continue the guerrilla war, the LTTE's foreign-based 
international relations head, S Padmanathan, told Britain's Channel 4 television on Sunday 
he believed in a peaceful solution for the Tamil people. The war started by the LTTE has 
left humanitarian suffering on a huge scale - including in its final stages.

Dealing with the suffering of the refugees, the wounded and the bereaved will loom high 
on Sri Lanka's agenda in the immediate future. Almost a month ago, the United Nations 
said it feared 6,500 civilians had been killed and twice the number wounded in the war 
zone since January - civilians who, it alleged, were forcibly held there by the LTTE 
(although the rebels always denied that) and were caught in heavy crossfire.

It described more recent violence in the small rebel-controlled zone in the north-east of 
the country as a "bloodbath". Doctors working in the area described hundreds of deaths 
and injuries at their makeshift clinics, having to abandon the facilities in the last days.

The government said it doubted their information, as they might have been speaking under 
LTTE pressure - but the UN trusted them as an impartial source. Even on Monday the UN 
refugee agency's head in Sri Lanka, Amin Awad, said he was worried civilians might have 
been killed within the past 48 hours.

*Ongoing grievances*

Hundreds of thousands of traumatised, emaciated people have poured out of the combat 
zone in the past few weeks and now stay in difficult conditions in government-run camps.

The UN and humanitarian agencies will be hoping for better access to them now that the 
war is over. The UN has also said it is concerned about the welfare of the doctors who are 
believed to have escaped the fighting but have not been heard from since.

The government says political reforms will also be on its agenda, reforms that will perhaps 
aim to tackle some of the grievances of Tamil citizens who, as an ethnic minority, feel 
discriminated against or marginalised by the state. There have also been calls, both from 
within and outside the country, for a process of reconciliation and healing, and for the 
government to be magnanimous in victory.

One Sri Lankan exile, also posting on the web, says he is concerned that a "hunt for Tigers 
and traitors will continue" - reflecting on the hard line the government has often taken 
towards dissenting voices and those it accuses of giving comfort to the rebels.

"We shouldn't be triumphalist," a Sinhala woman, who largely supported the government's 
campaign against the LTTE, told the BBC.


----------



## geo (19 May 2009)

Look at what's going on in Ireland.

Anyone who might have thought that "the troubles" were over was in for a rude surprise when Soldiers, Policemen & pizza deliverymen were executed in Northern Ireland earlier this year....

Something for Sri Lanka to look forward to - I guess

Congratulations to the people of Sri-Lanka for having seen this insurection to the very end... in spite of the attempted interference from those who shoulda known better.


----------



## Yrys (23 May 2009)

Sri Lankan Rebel Leader Also Served as a Cult Figure, 18 May 2009

BANGKOK — For a quarter century, Vellupillai Prabhakaran led a brutal and committed insurgency 
that terrorized Sri Lanka with massacres, suicide bombings and assassinations. The founder of the 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. Prabhakaran, 54, was apparently killed Monday in a 
government military offensive that destroyed the remnants of an army he had built that at one point 
numbered some 10,000 fighters.

Many analysts have predicted that the movement, with its military destroyed and its territory gone, 
will reconstitute itself using the tactics it was built around: guerrilla warfare and terrorist bombings.
But Mr. Prabhakaran was as much a cult figure to Tamil separatists as he was a commander, and it 
was not clear what would become of his insurgency without him.

_Rest of article on above link_



Tamil doubts over rebel leader's death, Tuesday, 19 May 2009 14:32 UK





_The photos said to show Prabhakaran's 
body have not convinced everyone_

The Sri Lankan military has released pictures of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran 
which it says prove conclusively that he is dead. State and private stations aired footage 
of what they said was the body of Prabhakaran, along with what looked like his Tamil Tiger 
identity card and tag. The army says his body has been positively identified with DNA testing.

But rebel sympathisers say questions remain about when and how he and other rebel leaders 
were killed, and over apparently contradictory statements in relation to his reported death.
Some among Sri Lanka's Tamil community and the influential Tamil diaspora doubt whether 
the rebel leader really is dead.

*Ambushed*

"The government is eager to present this as its Ceausescu moment - with photographs of the 
body of the tyrant widely released to give the impression that a defining moment has been 
reached," one Colombo-based diplomat told the BBC - drawing an analogy with the filmed 
execution of the Romanian dictator in December 1989. "But there are questions surrounding 
Prabhakaran's identity tag. Is it really credible that a man reputed to have numerous lookalike 
doubles to avoid capture by the army would really carry this around with him?"

The army says Prabhakaran's bullet-ridden body was found on the banks of the Nanthikadal 
lagoon, his last stronghold in north-east Sri Lanka on Tuesday morning. Earlier it said his body 
was found on Monday morning. Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the rebel leader 
had been shot in scrubland - probably in fierce fighting.

That statement contradicted an earlier announcement - made on state television but never verified 
by the army - that Prabhakaran's badly burnt body was discovered on Monday. It said Prabhakaran 
had been killed after he was ambushed by commandos as he made a desperate attempt to break 
through government lines in an ambulance. He had been badly burnt when his vehicle burst into 
flames, it said. State TV also said the rebel leader's body had been found with those of intelligence 
chief Pottu Amman and Soosai - the Tamil Tiger naval commander.

But on Tuesday the army said Soosai's death had not been confirmed.

Its version of events was first given by Gen Sarath Fonseka. "The good news from the war front is 
that the body of the leader of the terrorist organisation which destroyed the country for the last 30 
years, Prabhakaran, have been found by the army. We have identified the body," he said. Gen Fonseka 
said the bodies of the rebels would be disposed without any formal funerals as "many of them were 
in bad shape".

The private TV stations Derana and Swarnavahini showed soldiers surrounding what the troops said was 
Prabhakaran's body, with his distinctive moustache and regulation tiger-stripe camouflage fatigues.

*Denial*

The government argues that there are perfectly innocent explanations for the differing accounts of 
Prabhakaran's death - that in war time what is happening on the battlefront can sometimes get confused.

The BBC Tamil section's Jagadheesan Leklapoodi says that following the release of the photographs most 
Indian Tamil newspapers appear to have accepted that Prabhakaran is dead. "But the Tamil population 
around the world will only grudgingly accept that is the case," he said. "Prabhakaran is revered by some 
of them as the liberation hero fighting for their cause for over 30 years. Many of them will find it difficult 
to accept that he is no longer on the scene."

So far the most influential pro-rebel website, TamilNet, has not acknowledged the death. Speaking before 
the release of the photos, a rebel official abroad denied Prabhakaran had been killed and said the Tamil 
Tiger leader was "alive and safe". "He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil 
people," Selvarasa Pathmanathan said in a statement posted on the pro-rebel TamilNet Web site on Tuesday.
But he offered no further details or evidence to support the claim, only drawing attention to what he said was
Colombo's "treachery" in the killings of senior unarmed Tamil Tiger political wing leaders in the north-east, 
who he said had been shot as they carried white flags.

While the land fighting between the two sides has finished - the propaganda battle continues undiminished.


----------



## Yrys (23 May 2009)

Winning the peace in Sri Lanka, Tuesday, 19 May 2009 04:23 UK





_Supporters of the Tamil Tigers abroad 
held new protest rallies on Monday_

Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict has almost ended after nearly three decades with the military defeat 
of the Tamil Tigers but the victorious government may still need to tackle other fronts, including 
finding a political solution to the long-standing Tamil issue.

Apart from the Tamil minority, the international community will be keenly observing the next 
moves of the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which doggedly pursued its military 
objectives despite criticism from various quarters.

The dramatic events of recent weeks, including the annihilation of almost the entire senior Tamil 
Tiger (LTTE) leadership and the end of the military offensive, will no doubt increase the govern-
ment's popularity in the majority-Sinhalese south. The military victory will be regarded as the 
crowning glory of President Rajapaksa's administration. But there are daunting tasks ahead.

The immediate challenge for the government is to resettle more than 250,000 people displaced 
by the war back in their homes in the north. At the moment, these people are housed in state-run 
camps with the help of aid agencies. There have been strong criticisms from human rights groups 
about the living conditions and the lack of freedom of movement in these "welfare camps".

"Any long delay in resettling these war-ravaged Tamil people will further alienate them," says 
Sri Lankan analyst DBS Jeyaraj. "It will also attract international criticism over the government's 
motive in keeping these refugees in these camps beyond a reasonable period of time."

*Appeal for generosity*

The government says it needs to keep these civilians inside the camps under tight security in 
order to identify rebel fighters who might have escaped the war zone along with the fleeing Tamil 
population. On the other hand, with the fall of the Tamil Tigers the government is under pressure 
to step up efforts to find a political solution to the decades-old Tamil issue. The Tamils have been
complaining that they have been treated like second-class citizens by the Sinhalese majority and 
that they need more autonomy for Tamil areas.

"Obviously the government of Sri Lanka has won the battle but has not won the peace," the 
Norwegian Minister for International Development, Erik Solheim, told the BBC. "Everything will 
depend on whether they can prove leadership qualities in this situation." Mr Solheim worked for 
10 years with both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government and brokered a ceasefire 
deal in 2002.

"If the Sri Lankan government can show generosity in victory, give a substantial devolution of 
power to Tamil self-government in the north-east and create an inclusive state for the Tamil, 
Sinhalese and Muslims, then we may see a lasting solution to the Sri Lankan problem," he said.

But the Sri Lankan government says it is working on a political solution and it requires time to 
evolve a consensus among political parties in the south.

*Hearts and minds*

"Once the LTTE terrorism and fanaticism is eliminated, which is the case at the moment, the government 
will work hard with the other moderate Tamil political groups... to bring a practical, sustainable political 
solution that will satisfy the aspirations of every community," said the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner 
in London, Sumith Nakandala. However, Tamils fear that now that the government has won the war, it may 
not feel the necessity to come out with far-reaching political reforms, which may trigger another round of 
Tamil dissent.

"The future depends to a great extent on how the Rajapaksa government reaches out to win the hearts and 
minds of the Tamil people," says Mr Jeyaraj.

While the government may be focused on solving its problems domestically in coming months, dissatisfaction 
is brewing in Western capitals over the reportedly high number of civilian casualties in the Sri Lankan conflict.

The UN believes that nearly 7,000 civilians may have been killed and another 13,000 injured in the war since
January. The government disputes these figures. Human rights groups blame both sides for the humanitarian 
suffering.

Now the European Union says it is appalled by the high number of civilian casualties, which include children.
EU foreign ministers have called for an independent inquiry into alleged war crimes and human rights 
violations during the weeks of intense fighting between the army and the rebels.


----------



## Yrys (23 May 2009)

UN chief in Sri Lanka access plea, Saturday, 23 May 2009 19:39 UK

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Sri Lanka to allow "unhindered access" by aid agencies 
to displaced people in the war-ravaged north. He spoke after visiting a huge camp for refugees who 
fled fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces. Following talks with President Mahinda 
Rajapakse, Mr Ban said the government was "doing its utmost" but that more could be done to assist 
victims.

Earlier this week the government said it had defeated the 26-year insurgency.

*'Humbled'*

On Saturday, the UN secretary general saw first-hand the main government-run camp for about 220,000 
refugees at Manik Farm, near Vavuniya. "I was humbled by what I saw," he told reporters afterwards.

Humanitarian agencies say access to hundreds of thousands of refugees has been restricted and the 
distribution of aid hampered by a ban on vehicles from the UN and other groups.The government says 
it needs more time to find any Tamil Tiger guerrillas hiding in the camps, and is suspicious of some 
agencies which it has accused of helping the rebels. It plans to resettle most refugees with six months.

"We will try to work hard to keep that promise realised," Mr Ban said. "They need to be resettled as soon 
as possible." After talks with President Rajapaksa at his residence in Kandy, Mr Ban said: "The government 
is doing its utmost best", but added that there was a "wide gap between what is needed and what can be 
done".

Sri Lanka has appealed for $151m in UN funds to improve the camps.

Mr Ban also called for political reconciliation between the majority Sinhalese and minorities, including Tamils.
"If not history could repeat itself", he said.

Without a political settlement that gives Tamils real rights, UN officials believe the fighting will begin anew, 
says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan, who is travelling with Mr Ban.

*Battleground*

On Saturday, Mr Ban also took a low-level helicopter flight over the coastal area where the final battle was 
fought. "It was a very sobering visit, very sad and very moving," he said of the scene of the battle.

Sri Lanka officially announced an end to the war this week, after its troops took the last segment of land held
by the rebels and killed the Tamil Tiger leadership, including its chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran. It is thought at
least 80,000 people were killed in the war.

The UN says 7,000 civilians have died since January alone, although the government disputes this figure.

At a rally before Mr Ban arrived, Mr Rajapaksa dismissed any attempt to take him to an international war 
crimes court. "There are some who tried to stop our military campaign by threatening to haul us before war 
crimes tribunals. "I am not afraid. The strength I have is your support. I am even ready to go to the gallows
 on your behalf."


----------



## Yrys (24 May 2009)

Agony in Sri Lanka's refugee camp, Sunday, 24 May 2009 03:17 UK





_Menik Farm camp houses 
some 200,000 people_

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spent Saturday in Sri Lanka pressing for political reconciliation 
and full humanitarian access for displaced people in camps, following Colombo's declaration of 
victory over Tamil Tigers rebels. The BBC's UN correspondent Laura Trevelyan was travelling with
Mr Ban and sent this report. 

The Menik Farm camp in northern Sri Lanka has a distinctly military air for a place which is housing 
more than 200,000 people displaced by the fighting. There is barbed wire everywhere, and 
camouflage-clad soldiers who are not at all keen on journalists speaking to those inside the camp.

As Mr Ban arrived amid a cloud of dust generated by his helicopter to see for himself the conditions 
in which people are living, there was an official welcome. Next came a presentation by Sri Lankan 
officials, about how well run the camp is.

*Screening*

Yet there is clearly overcrowding here. Greson Brando, from the UN's office for the Co-ordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs, explained that on one plot of land more than 74,000 people were living in a 
space designed for half that number. Mr Ban came to press the Sri Lankan government to allow the 
UN and aid agencies full humanitarian access to the camps and to call for those inside to have 
freedom of movement.

The Sri Lankan government will not let the mostly Tamil people here leave yet. They are screening 
them to make sure they are not a security risk (i.e. Tamil Tigers who might begin to fight again).

The UN says people must be allowed to reunite with their families. Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha 
Bogollagama, brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, told me the screening process is on course and 
when it is over the resettlement will begin.

What about allowing agencies full access to people here, I asked Mr Bogollagama. "You can see how 
much humanitarian access people are enjoying," answered. "People here were denied their basic 
human rights by the LTTE [Tamil Tigers]."

*Malnourished patients*

Mr Ban was serenaded by well turned out children waving Sri Lankan flags. The camp floor was neatly 
swept, there were flowers in the gardens. A huge sign welcomed Mr Ban "to our motherland".  	

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spent Saturday in Sri Lanka pressing for political reconciliation and 
full humanitarian access for displaced people in camps, following Colombo's declaration of victory over 
Tamil Tigers rebels.

Yet there was no disguising the agony here. Women spoke of walking through water to escape the fighting, 
being shelled from both sides, by the government and the Tamil Tigers.

In a makeshift hospital Mr Ban saw elderly, malnourished patients lying on cot beds in the open air, drips 
attached, flies buzzing round their heads. A few looked close to death. Mr Ban was clearly moved by what 
he saw, describing himself as saddened and humbled. He praised the Sri Lankan government for the help 
it is providing, while saying it lacked capacity - diplomatic code that more can be done.

*'Vision of hell'*

From the camp we were off by helicopter once again - this time to see the conflict zone itself - by Mullaitivu. 
We were the first international journalists to see the scene of the final days of the fighting.

The tiny spit of land in north-eastern Sri Lanka could be a beach paradise. Instead it is like a vision of hell.
Houses have been destroyed, buses blown up, palm trees devastated, and there are craters in the beach. 
On the sand I saw row after row of tents. People lived in these cramped conditions, allegedly used by the 
Tamil Tigers as a human shield while the Sri Lankan military closed in.

Mr Ban did not land and look around the conflict zone. As a guest of the Sri Lankan authorities, he was well 
aware of the risk of being used by the government to portray international support for their military victory.
So he flew over instead, looking from the safety of the sky.

*Joint statement*

From there, Mr Ban went on to meet President Rajapaksa. UN officials were hoping to underline with him 
the importance of winning the peace as well as the war, by reaching out to Tamils and giving them rights 
in a comprehensive political settlement. "If issues of reconciliation and social inclusion are not dealt with, 
history could repeat itself," warned Mr Ban. The two men issued a joint statement after their meeting.

On the situation in the camps, the statement said the government would continue to provide access to 
humanitarian agencies, which did not acknowledge that it was not quite doing that. President Rajapaksa 
says he will begin talks with all parties - including the Tamils - to bring about lasting peace. Mr Ban in his 
dogged way has prodded the Sri Lankan government to address the concerns about the camps and work 
for reconciliation. The test of his influence is whether anything here changes.


----------



## Yrys (24 May 2009)

How Sri Lanka's military won, 22 May 2009





_The army stretched the rebels thin by opening up many fronts_

Few believed him when Sri Lanka's powerful defence secretary said he required three years 
to defeat the once invincible Tamil Tiger rebels.

When Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the assertion, the Tamil Tigers, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil 
Eelam [LTTE], controlled nearly one third of the country, had a well-organised, ruthless fighting 
unit, sufficient stocks of heavy weapons, a small navy and a rudimentary air force. They had no 
problems of fresh supplies as they had enough resources pouring in from their supporters abroad 
and through their commercial ventures.

Only a handful of military analysts believed that the rebels could be wiped out completely.

Today, Sri Lanka is among the few nations that can say it has successfully quelled a nearly three-
decade insurgency by military means. The entire rebel-held territory has been captured, huge 
caches of weapons have been recovered and destroyed, and the entire Tamil Tiger leadership is 
thought to have been wiped out.

So what led to the military success of a force that had been at the receiving end for many years?

*'No ambiguity'*

"So many factors have contributed to the success of the Sri Lankan forces. There was a clear aim 
and mandate from the political level to the official level and to the military level to destroy the LTTE 
at any cost. There was no ambiguity in that," Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the BBC. When the current 
president, his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, came to power in 2005, he made it clear that he would 
go all out against the rebels if they were not sincere in peace talks.

Once the peace process failed, he gave the go ahead for the war to his brother and the hard line 
army commander Gen Sarath Fonseka. A massive recruitment drive for the armed forces was launched 
(it increased from about 80,000 to more than 160,000). New weapons, including fighter jets, artillery 
guns and multi-barrel rocket launchers were bought from countries like China, Pakistan and Russia and 
new military strategies and tactics were evolved.

"That was the time when the international community was totally disappointed with the rebels because 
of their insincerity in peace talks. So countries like India and the US gave their tacit support for the all-
out offensive against the LTTE," says Sri Lankan analyst DBS Jeyaraj. Hostilities between the two sides 
broke out first in Eastern Province in August 2006. After months of intense battles, the government 
declared it had completely dislodged the rebels from the east.

One of the main reasons for the rebels' eastern debacle was the split in 2004 - when the Tigers' 
influential eastern commander, Col Karuna, broke away because of differences with the leadership.

"The LTTE could never recover from that. Thousands of fighters went away with Karuna and the LTTE 
could not recruit fresh cadres from the east, dealing a severe blow to their manpower. They struggled 
hard to replace fallen cadres in the subsequent northern battle," says Col R Hariharan, former chief of
military intelligence of the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990.

It was only a matter of time before the Sri Lankan military launched the second phase of its offensive 
to recapture the rebel strongholds in the north. In the meantime, the Sri Lankan navy had also hunted 
and destroyed many Tamil Tiger supply ships in deep seas, dealing a crucial blow to the rebels.

*Battlefield plans*

The army also changed its tactics and became better able to cope with the kind of warfare waged by 
the guerrillas. Small teams of commandoes were sent behind enemy lines to carry out attacks against 
rebel leaders and key defence lines. The military also started to stretch them thin by opening up a 
number of fronts in the north.

The Tamil Tigers had no answer to the bombing missions by air force jets.

"The rebels never knew about the battlefield plans. We surprised them in many areas. For example, 
they didn't expect me to capture the strategically important town of Paranthan, near Kilinochchi, by 
outflanking them," Brig Shavendra Silva, commander of the Sri Lankan army's 58th division, told the 
BBC in a recent interview from the frontline.

The capture of Paranthan forced the rebels to withdraw from the strategically important Elephant Pass, 
a small land bridge that connects northern Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the country. From Paranthan, 
Sri Lankan security forces battled their way into the Tamil Tiger de-facto capital of Kilinochchi. The 58th 
division, which is credited with a series of military successes against the rebels, battled hard to forge 
ahead from Mannar up to Matalan beach on the eastern coast in Mullaitivu district.

"It was not an easy walk. But we went ahead with a huge momentum and kept our pace and there were 
clear-cut instructions and leadership from our superiors," Brig Silva said.

But many argue that the military's success has come at an enormous humanitarian cost. The UN believes 
that nearly 7,000 civilians may have been killed and 13,000 injured in the conflict since January.

Aid agencies say around 275,000 people have been displaced. A number of villages and towns have either 
been damaged or destroyed.

Both the military and the rebels are being accused of gross violations of international humanitarian law. 
The two sides deny the charges. "The Sri Lankan military juggernaut cruised ahead despite mounting civilian 
casualties. The rebels thought the international community, especially neighbouring India, would intervene
looking at the civilian suffering and bring about a ceasefire in the final stages. When that did not happen, 
they ran out of options," says Mr Jeyaraj.


----------



## Yrys (24 May 2009)

Sri Lanka Ignores Calls by Aid Groups for Better Access to War Refugees, May 22, 2009

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s government ignored mounting calls by international 
relief organizations on Friday for greater access to the country’s swelling refugee camps, 
as the military continued to weed out people suspected of being former Tamil Tiger rebels 
hiding among civilians.

Even as the end of the war has brought a new flood of refugees in the north in recent days, 
the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other groups have said 
that the military’s new restrictions have curtailed their activities and are endangering the 
lives of the refugee population, now estimated at 280,000.
...
_Rest of article on above link_


Sri Lanka's new chapter, 23 May 2009

The authorities in the capital of Sri Lanka have declared the rebel leader of the Tamil Tigers, 
Vellupillai Prabhakaran, dead and the war over. Chris Morris reflects on the life of Prabhakaran 
and considers whether there can now be reconciliation.
...
*New friends*

Beijing has provided huge stocks of weapons to Sri Lanka in the last few years, at the same time 
as it has been building a new deep water port on the island's southern coast. 
...
_Rest of article on above link_




Sri Lanka to probe rights claims, 24 May 2009






_Mr Ban said conditions for Tamil 
refugees were 'very difficult'_

The Sri Lankan government has pledged to investigate claims of human rights violations committed 
during the conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels. The pledge was made in a joint UN-Sri Lankan statement 
at the end of a visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

But the government rejected UN calls to allow aid agencies immediate unhindered access to Tamil 
refugee camps. President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the authorities first had to identify any remaining 
rebel fighters in the camps. In the past the government has accused some aid agencies of helping 
members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sheltering among the refugees. Last week 
the government announced that it had defeated the 26-year Tamil insurgency.

*Resettlement*

International human rights groups have said there are grounds for believing that both the Tamil Tiger 
rebels and the government may have committed war crimes in the closing stages of the country's civil 
war. They accuse the rebels of deliberately holding people as human shields, and the government of 
carrying out indiscriminate shelling. Both sides deny the allegations.

But the final sentences of the joint Sri Lanka-UN statement state that Ban Ki-Moon stressed the 
importance of an accountability process for addressing rights violations, and that the government 
would "take measures to address those grievances".

However, the UN did not get everything it wanted from the Sri Lankan government.

Mr Ban's visit was aimed at pressing the authorities to allow aid agencies unimpeded access 
to the government-run camps. On Sunday Mr Rajapaksa said security had to be assured before 
this could be granted, "in view of the likely presence of LTTE infiltrators". "As conditions improve, 
especially with regard to security, there would be no objections to such assistance, from organi-
sations that were genuinely interested in the well-being" of the displaced Tamils, he told reporters.

On Saturday, Mr Ban toured Manik Farm refugee camp near Vavuniya, and described conditions 
as "very, very difficult". He also took a helicopter flight over the coastal area where the final 
battle was fought. "It was a very sobering visit, very sad and very moving," he said.

The government has said it plans to resettle most Tamil refugees with six months.

"We will try to work hard to keep that promise realised," Mr Ban said. "They need to be resettled 
as soon as possible." Mr Ban also called for political reconciliation between the majority Sinhalese 
and minorities, including Tamils.

Sri Lanka officially announced an end to the war on Tuesday, after its troops took the last segment 
of land held by the rebels and killed the Tamil Tiger leadership, including its chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
It is thought at least 80,000 people were killed in the war.

The UN says 7,000 civilians have died since January alone, although the government disputes this figure.


----------



## Yrys (24 May 2009)

Tamil Tigers admit leader is dead, 24 May 2009

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have admitted for the first time that their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran 
is dead. A statement issued by the Tigers said their "incomparable leader" had "attained martyrdom" 
and declared a week of mourning. A spokesman for the group also told the BBC that it would now use 
non-violent methods to fight for Tamils' rights.

Sri Lanka's army last week released pictures it said showed Prabhakaran's body after its final offensive.

The statement from the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) said he was killed "fighting the military oppression of the Sri 
Lankan government" last Sunday. The rebels had made a last stand in the north-east of the island after 
Sri Lankan troops cornered them in a coastal strip. The Tigers' defeat brought to an end their 26-year fight 
for a separate Tamil homeland.

The statement was signed by the defeated group's head of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan. 
It said that the LTTE had declared a week of mourning for their dead leader, starting on 25 May. The 
statement called on Tamils all over the world to "restrain from harmful acts to themselves or anyone else 
in this hour of extreme grief".

In a telephone interview with the BBC, Mr Pathmanathan said Prabhakaran had died on 17 May but did not 
give details of the circumstances. Mr Pathmanathan said the Tigers would now use non-violent methods to 
fight for the rights of Tamils. "We have already announced that we have given up violence and agreed to 
enter a democratic process to achieve the rights for the Tamil (self) determination of our people," he said.
Most of the Tamil Tigers senior leadership is believed to have been killed in the fighting.

*Conflicting reports*

Sri Lankan officials gave conflicting reports of the death of Prabhakaran. They initially said he had been 
killed in an ambush by commandos as he tried to break through government lines in an ambulance. But 
the army later said his body was found on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon and he had been shot in 
scrubland - probably during fierce fighting. Tamil Tiger officials at first denied Prabhakaran's death, 
insisting that he was "alive and safe".

Sri Lankan officials have said that more than 6,200 security personnel were killed and almost 30,000 
wounded in the final three years of the war. Estimates for Tamil Tiger deaths vary from 15,000 to more 
than 22,000. About 275,000 Sri Lankan civilians are still displaced because of the fighting, posing a huge 
problem for international aid agencies.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday to see the situation for himself. At the 
end of his visit a joint UN-Sri Lankan statement said that the government had pledged to investigate claims 
of human rights violations committed during the conflict.

But the government has rejected UN calls to allow aid agencies unhindered access to refugee camps.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said authorities had to identify any remaining rebel fighters in the camps.


----------



## old medic (27 May 2009)

Sri Lanka gov't supporters stone Canadian mission

Wed. May. 27 2009
The Associated Press
copy located at: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090527/srilanka_stone_090527/20090527?hub=World


> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Hundreds of Sri Lankans protested outside the Canadian High Commission in Colombo on Wednesday, accusing Ottawa of supporting Tamil Tiger rebels.
> 
> They pelted the mission with stones, sprayed graffiti on the wall and painted over a security camera.
> 
> ...


----------



## Fishbone Jones (27 May 2009)

Damned if you do, damned if you don't  :

Ah well, C'est la vie... C'est la guerre...


----------



## Rinker (27 May 2009)

seems to be a lot of that going around (the english part)


----------



## old medic (10 Jun 2009)

Liberal MP Bob Rae denied entry into Sri Lanka
Updated Wed. Jun. 10 2009 9:54 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090610/rae_entry_090610/20090610?hub=World



> Liberal MP Bob Rae, an outspoken critic of Sri Lanka's recent crackdown on the Tamil Tigers, was blocked from entering the country Wednesday.
> 
> Rae, who only had a one-way ticket to Sri Lanka, was detained at the Katunayaka International Airport and forced to leave on another flight.
> 
> ...


----------



## Colin Parkinson (12 Jun 2009)

Well the Liberals marched in parades with LTTE supporters spouting their flags, what did he expect the Sri Lankans to think?

The world is changing, the governments of countries like Sri Lanka are no longer beholden to the West, they prefer the support of China and others.


----------



## CougarKing (7 Aug 2009)

Seems there are still some holdouts/remnants out there...  



> *Sri Lankan Tamil rebels say new leader arrested*
> AP
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## CougarKing (10 Nov 2009)

Meanwhile, back in Sri Lanka...



> *Sri Lanka Military Boss to Run for President: Report*
> AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
> Published: 8 Nov 2009 14:27
> 
> ...



A pledge to abolish the presidency?


----------



## x512er (24 Jan 2010)

More good news :    2 Canadians jailed for trying to help Tamil Tigers.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=23317774


----------



## CougarKing (26 Jan 2011)

> *Sri Lanka military to share war tips at forum*
> 
> AFP
> 
> ...



AFP link


Wasn't the recent Sri Lanka conflict against the Tamil Tigers more of a conventional, civil war though instead of COIN? I seem to recall that the LTTE mainly occupied northern camps and territories instead of waging an all-out guerrilla war.

Furthermore, the LTTE used both naval and air means to attack the Sri Lankan armed forces, as exemplified by the discovery of Tamil Tiger home-made subs mentioned earlier in this thread. As well as converted civilian planes used in attacks on Sri Lankan Air Force bases.

pics of one of the captured Tamil Tiger subs:


----------

