Terror War: Sri Lanka: Tamil insurgents suffer setbacks, but not broken
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The Tamil insurgents in Sri Lanka do not represent all Tamils there, not be any means of measurement. Known as the Tamil Tigers for short, and more fully termed in English the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), these deadly insurgents are most famed for recruiting children soldiers, sometimes by force, from the Tamil populaton, sometimes entering schools to do so; and also known for placing necklaces with cynaide suicide pills on cords around the necks of the youthful soldiers of the Tigers, the cyannide for the kids' use if about to be captured. At the beginnning of September a report emerged that the Tigers were weakened in battles with the govt military (Anuj Chopra, Christian Science Monitor (Sep5,2k6).
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The most recent truce came to a crash sometime after Sri Lanka experienced the full devastation of the Mega-Tsunami, the Tigers compalining that they were being by-passed in the distribution of aid and relief. Since the time of renewed hostilities, a further ominous development has taken hold in the conflict between the largely-Hindu ethnic minority Tamils and the largely-Buddhist Singhalese ethnic majority. Associated Press via Internaitonal Herald Tribune reported
"Increasing number of civilians disappearing in Sri Lanka," rights group says" (Sep11,2k6). Both the Sri Lanka Human R+ts Commission (SLHRC), an official agency of the Sri Lankan govt, and the Asian Human R+ts Commission (AHRC) of which SLHRC is a member, have united in laying the blame for the disappearances on bo†h the Tigers and the govt security forces.
Three days ago, the maltreatment of minorities and civilians extended to the third-sized community of Sri Lankan Muslims who are ethnically distinct from both the Sinhalese majority and the larger Tamil ethnic minority. Each of these communities are constituted by a religion/ethnicity overlap. AP via IHT (Sep22,2k6):
Muslim protesters took to the streets of Pottuvil on Wednesday, claiming an elite police force was responsible for the slayings. Police, who denied the allegations, fired on the protesters, wounding 14, then imposed a temporary curfew. Perhaps confusing the situation further is what seems a strange development on the diplomatic front, involving contacts between the Government of India, with the three political factions of the Sri Lanka Tamils.
Asia > Sri Lanka
B. Muralidhar Reddy writes The Hindu, "Delhi invites three parties from Sri Lanka" (Sep25,2k6):
COLOMBO: Close on the heels of the decision of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to meet a parliamentary delegation of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA), India has invited representatives of three Tamil parties from the north-east to New Delhi for an "interaction" on the current situation in Sri Lanka.India's move to exclude the elected parliamentarians of TNA whose party does lean to support of the LTTE is quite puzzling because the three smaller entitites are also oriented toward a "Tamil revolution" to gain political autonomy for the areas where Tamils predominate in Sri Lanka.
According to diplomatic and political sources here, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangree, his counterparts in the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, Sidharthan and T. Sritharan of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Front (EPRLF-Padmanabha), are leaving for New Delhi on Monday.
"Some time ago we had expressed our desire to visit India to exchange views on the prevailing situation as well as the possible role New Delhi could play in resolution of the ethnic conflict. We have just received a message asking us to reach New Delhi. At the moment we have no idea about the details of our itinerary and the authorities we could expect to meet in the course of our possibly three-day stay," one of the three leaders travelling to India told The Hindu.
The invitation to the Tamil parties is believed to be part of New Delhi's exercise for a better understanding of the situation and to explore the possible role it can play to resolve the ethnic problem.
Today, the war shifted again to naval combat, according to
Ruwan Weerakoon of AP via LankaPage:
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Sri Lanka's navy sank 11 Tamil Tiger rebel ships loaded with troops and weapons on Monday during a five-hour sea battle off the country's east coast, killing about 70 separatists, a top navy official said.Needless to say, the situation is quite volatile and proceeding on several fronts simultaneously.
It was one of the largest clashes since fighting escalated in the area in August, and dealt a further blow to a 2002 cease-fire that was supposed to end Sri Lanka's bloody 19-year civil war. The latest fighting began late Sunday night when the navy spotted 25 rebel ships sailing from their northern stronghold south along the eastern coast.
Rasiah Ilanthirayan, military spokesman for the separatists, disputed the navy's claims. He said only three rebel fighters had been killed and none of their boats sunk.
``But we damaged two naval attacking crafts,'' he said by telephone from the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.
Tamil Tigers and the military frequently dispute each other's claims, and independent confirmation is virtually impossible as the areas are closed to outsiders.
The military said it planned to release a video proving it had destroyed rebel ships.
Navy Cmdr. D.K.P. Dassanayake said the rebel ships were believed to have been transporting arms and ammunition to reinforce the Tigers near the strategic eastern port of Trincomalee. Some 70 Tigers were killed and around 30 wounded, he said. The navy attacked with gunboats, he said.
The remaining 14 rebel boats retreated after the hostilities just off the coast of the eastern town of Pulmoddai, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo, he said.
One navy vessel was damaged, and five sailors wounded, but the boat made it back to port, he said.
-- Politicarp
Further Research:
LankaPage (daily news online)
The Lanka Academic (24/7 news updates)
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