The situation in Sri Lanka is coming to a head but stoutly refuses to actually be resolved. Early last week, government forces broke down part of a wall constructed by the rebels, allowing 63,000 civilians to escape the war zone! In “Mass Tamil exodus from rebel area,” from the BBC, military spokesman Brigadier General Udaya Nanayakkara says that “We went in and people came towards us and we rescued them and [have] taken them to a better location, where they can have a better life than what they had in this safety zone under the LTTE [Tamil Tiger rebels]." 
Where civilians would have a better life is up for debate, since the rebels have accused the government of being responsible for 1,000 civilian deaths and 2,300 injuries since April 20. As always, the government denies these charges and there is no confirmation. However, given the choice I feel that the government is more trustworthy than the rebels, because the rebels are running out of other choices than propaganda right now. They are desperate and have been accusing the government of a lot of things which I don’t feel are necessarily true.
In any case, both sides are refusing to declare a ceasefire or stop the fighting in any way. A deadline set by the government for the LTTE to surrender passed last Tuesday, April 21 with no word. Later, rebel spokesperson Seevaratnam Puleedevan told the press that "LTTE will never surrender and we will fight and we have the confidence that we will win with the help of the Tamil people." Considering their previous claims that all they want is peace and that they have advocated a ceasefire from the beginning, this statement seems surprisingly incongruent. Hmm… I wonder if their earlier calls for peace were just a publicity stunt.
Mediation by other powers isn’t helping either. On April 25th, Voice of America reported that the United States is pressuring the Tamil Tigers to “lay down their arms and surrender to a third party.” State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood says that the international community is extremely concerned about the “safety of remaining civilians,” and says that it needs to “provide assistance to a large number of displaced persons.”
On April 29th, VoA also reported that two envoys from Britain and France were meeting with Sri Lankan leaders to discuss a ceasefire. The toured several displacement camps in the north but ultimately failed to secure a truce, and only got partial agreements to increased access for humanitarian organizations to the Tamil refugees. This is because the Sri Lankan government and Foreign Secretary Kohona question the ability of a ceasefire to actually be effective. Kohona asks,
Instead of trying another ceasefire like the New Year’s ceasefire, the government is focusing its energy on 1) capturing the rebel leader Prabhakaran, and 2) avoiding international condemnation for the humanitarian situation. They say they know Prabhakaran’s “general area” and are closing in. Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, head of the Sri Lankan army, suspects that Prabhakaran is hiding among civilians to take cover. Fonseka also suspects that Prabhakaran may try to escape by boat.
As far as international condemnation for the humanitarian situation, Voice of America reported on April 24th that the UN is sending a humanitarian team to northeastern Sri Lanka to aid the thousands of civilians still trapped behind rebel lines. These people are used as human shields from government attacks and are subject to (reported) heavy weapons fire. On a brighter note, VoA reported in that same article that since the army broke down the rebel barrier earlier that week, more than 100,000 civilians have escaped.
Although the government says that it appreciates the UN’s offer of humanitarian assistance, it claims that such assistance is not necessary since there is no humanitarian crisis. This I find at best difficult to swallow, because humanitarian violations are so clearly and so well documented. James Elder of UNICEF says: "Caught between competing military aims as this battle comes to its last bloody end, these people have had a lack of food, a lack of water, a lack of the most basic medicines. It's an unimaginable hell." The government claims to be doing its best to avoid any casualties.
Where civilians would have a better life is up for debate, since the rebels have accused the government of being responsible for 1,000 civilian deaths and 2,300 injuries since April 20. As always, the government denies these charges and there is no confirmation. However, given the choice I feel that the government is more trustworthy than the rebels, because the rebels are running out of other choices than propaganda right now. They are desperate and have been accusing the government of a lot of things which I don’t feel are necessarily true.
In any case, both sides are refusing to declare a ceasefire or stop the fighting in any way. A deadline set by the government for the LTTE to surrender passed last Tuesday, April 21 with no word. Later, rebel spokesperson Seevaratnam Puleedevan told the press that "LTTE will never surrender and we will fight and we have the confidence that we will win with the help of the Tamil people." Considering their previous claims that all they want is peace and that they have advocated a ceasefire from the beginning, this statement seems surprisingly incongruent. Hmm… I wonder if their earlier calls for peace were just a publicity stunt.
Mediation by other powers isn’t helping either. On April 25th, Voice of America reported that the United States is pressuring the Tamil Tigers to “lay down their arms and surrender to a third party.” State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood says that the international community is extremely concerned about the “safety of remaining civilians,” and says that it needs to “provide assistance to a large number of displaced persons.”
On April 29th, VoA also reported that two envoys from Britain and France were meeting with Sri Lankan leaders to discuss a ceasefire. The toured several displacement camps in the north but ultimately failed to secure a truce, and only got partial agreements to increased access for humanitarian organizations to the Tamil refugees. This is because the Sri Lankan government and Foreign Secretary Kohona question the ability of a ceasefire to actually be effective. Kohona asks,
"What are we going to achieve with a cease-fire? The LTTE will simply not letAs a result, the government immediately rejected a ceasefire proposal by the Tigers on April 26th. The article reports that according to the UN, between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the war zone.
anybody go. That is our experience. The world knows that. So I think a
cease-fire will not achieve anything like what the humanitarian lobby is
claiming that it would.”
Instead of trying another ceasefire like the New Year’s ceasefire, the government is focusing its energy on 1) capturing the rebel leader Prabhakaran, and 2) avoiding international condemnation for the humanitarian situation. They say they know Prabhakaran’s “general area” and are closing in. Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, head of the Sri Lankan army, suspects that Prabhakaran is hiding among civilians to take cover. Fonseka also suspects that Prabhakaran may try to escape by boat.
As far as international condemnation for the humanitarian situation, Voice of America reported on April 24th that the UN is sending a humanitarian team to northeastern Sri Lanka to aid the thousands of civilians still trapped behind rebel lines. These people are used as human shields from government attacks and are subject to (reported) heavy weapons fire. On a brighter note, VoA reported in that same article that since the army broke down the rebel barrier earlier that week, more than 100,000 civilians have escaped.
Although the government says that it appreciates the UN’s offer of humanitarian assistance, it claims that such assistance is not necessary since there is no humanitarian crisis. This I find at best difficult to swallow, because humanitarian violations are so clearly and so well documented. James Elder of UNICEF says: "Caught between competing military aims as this battle comes to its last bloody end, these people have had a lack of food, a lack of water, a lack of the most basic medicines. It's an unimaginable hell." The government claims to be doing its best to avoid any casualties.
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