Civil War: Sri Lanka: Tigers seem to be in last gasps, at last; China backs Lanka govt

UK"s Telegraph (unsigned) "Suffering in Sri Lanka: the defeat of the Tamil Tigers will bring a terrible episode in Sri Lanka to a close? (May14,2k9).

The long agony of civilians trapped inside the inferno of Sri Lanka's northern war zone may, at last, be easing. Some 2,000 are reported to have escaped this ruined enclave, ironically named a "no-fire zone", where a devastating bombardment has claimed hundreds of lives and struck the only working hospital in the last week alone.

If this terrible episode is drawing to a close, with the final defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels, that is wholeheartedly to be welcomed. The Tigers have cynically maximised human suffering by trapping innocent people inside the only territory still under their control.

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Yet President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government [Sri Lanka] cannot escape its share of responsibility. ... Instead, Mr Rajapaksa has brazenly ignored outside concerns. There is a simple reason for his confidence: China has given Sri Lanka its full support. ...

China has taken a lead in foreign influence on the Government of the island; it is building a massive harbour for its oil sea-lane to Myanmar or more probably Thailand, where many ships will disgorge into refineries, while some raw oil will be trucked to the border with China for refining in the mother country.

-- Politcarp