Sri Lankan Civil War Drawing to a Close

[Leonel]

Key Tamil Tiger sea base 'falls'

The Sri Lankan army says it has captured the last major naval base of Tamil Tiger rebels in the north-east of the island.

It says that about 15 rebel fighters - including three senior commanders - were killed in the fighting at Chalai.

There has been no independent confirmation of the report, and no comment from the rebels.

Earlier, the government said there would be no ceasefire with the rebels, despite international calls for talks.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said that with the capture of Chalai, the army had now brought almost all the rebel naval bases on the eastern coast under its control.

He said the deputy leader of the rebel Sea Tigers unit was among the senior commanders killed in the fighting.

The spokesman further added that troops were now trying to subdue remaining rebel resistance in the area.

The military has already made it clear it is in charge of the seas, following the last major clash between the two sides last month in which the navy said four rebel boats had been sunk.

The rebels are boxed in by troops in a shrinking piece of territory in the north-east. The military says they control just a few miles of coastline.

Meanwhile aid agencies have continued to express concern over the plight of civilians caught up in the conflict. The government says more than 1,500 people have crossed from rebel-held areas to government-controlled territory in the past four days.

Earlier, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa ruled out any chance of the Tamil Tigers negotiating a surrender.

"There is no question of negotiations on surrender. The rebels should surrender unconditionally. They should lay down their arms first."

He rejected any amnesty for top rebel leaders, but said that "lower level cadres" would be "given amnesty, retrained, given vocational training and integrated into mainstream society".

Civilian fears

Mr Rajapaksa also dismissed US-led calls for a ceasefire, saying that the rebels had used ceasefire time "only to regroup and attack security forces".

His comments came days after donors called on the rebels to consider laying down arms in order to end the bloodshed.

The Tigers say they will not lay down their arms until they have a "guarantee of living with freedom and dignity and sovereignty".

There are fears for about 250,000 civilians who may be trapped by the fighting.

On Thursday pro-rebel websites again accused the army of shelling a hospital following similar claims throughout the week.

On Wednesday, the United Nations said that 52 civilians had been killed in 24 hours of fighting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7873149.stm

Looks like 25 years of civil war is about to end! Good news, I should think.

 

[Mowque]

Looks like 25 years of civil war is about to end! Good news, I should think.

It seems like it is ending cause they are running out of rebels to kill.

 

[Leonel]

It seems like it is ending cause they are running out of rebels to kill.

Well it is an ending.

 

[Cutlass]

How major a naval base can a bunch of rebels have?

 

[eastsidebagel]

Looks like 25 years of civil war is about to end! Good news, I should think.

I have no idea where you're getting that from. The rebels won't surrender, it's either victory for their cause or death for them.

 

[Dachs]

How major a naval base can a bunch of rebels have?

It's actually been very effective. The Sea Tigers have destroyed something like a third of the brown-water part of the Sri Lankan navy.

 

[Mowque]

From the link-

On land the Sri Lanka Army has been able to capture Sea tiger boats and a boat yard with several partially completed submersibles

Man, they are some tough dudes...

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Just because the LTTE is being destroyed doesn't mean Tamil grievances are being addressed, in means that Sri Lankan COIN has been effective.

 

[eastsidebagel]

As long as there is the will to gain indepence from Sri Lanka in some men and those requests aren't met by the government, this conflict will continue to demand it's toll. The pseudo-civil war is far from a peaceful solution.

 

[Dachs]

The pseudo-civil war is far from a peaceful solution.

Who writes your speeches? Such mastery of the obvious...

 

[eastsidebagel]

Who writes your speeches? Such mastery of the obvious...

Yeah, you may try to mock me, but the OP is clearly suggesting that this war is coming to an end, even though there's no clear proof for that claim anywhere in sight.
And...Jesus is writing my speeches, I'm his mere mouthpiece.

 

[Dachs]

Yeah, you may try to mock me, but the OP is clearly suggesting that this war is coming to an end, even though there's no clear proof for that claim anywhere in sight.

You said a war was not a peaceful way to solve something. I understand what you were trying to say but you kinda cocked it up.

 

[eastsidebagel]

As long as there is the will to gain indepence from Sri Lanka in some men and those requests aren't met by the government, this conflict will continue to demand it's toll. The pseudo-civil war is far from a peaceful solution.

I think you misunderstood my previous statement due to my sometimes poor English skills. I tried to say that at the given circumstances it seems that peace is still a long way to go away, and that even with highening death tolls among the rebellian warriors, peace may may not get achieved so easily in the nigh future on the contrary on what people are optimistically assuming now.

 

[Otitis]

It isn't drawing to a close. Once Sri Lanka conquers the Tamil lands once and for all, a insurgency will set in. It will still be bloody.

 

[Dachs]

It isn't drawing to a close. Once Sri Lanka conquers the Tamil lands once and for all, a insurgency will set in. It will still be bloody.

They're fighting an insurgency. It might be a few years - hell, maybe not even that long - before the Tamils get pissed enough again to start making problems, but for now the Sri Lankan government forces have pretty effectively suppressed most of the Tigers.

 

[Otitis]

They're fighting an insurgency. It might be a few years - hell, maybe not even that long - before the Tamils get pissed enough again to start making problems, but for now the Sri Lankan government forces have pretty effectively suppressed most of the Tigers.

Dude, I know that . (insurgency), but I meant Insurgency in the Iraqi sense. Sri Lanka was technically in the throws of an insurgency, but the Tamils had some land to launch attacks from and effectively governed it. More like a war between nations.

 

[Dachs]

Dude, I know that . (insurgency), but I meant Insurgency in the Iraqi sense. Sri Lanka was technically in the throws of an insurgency, but the Tamils had some land to launch attacks from and effectively governed it. More like a war between nations.

Nation is a sticky word. If you mean that there will be lingering popular resistance (at first more quiet and passive, and later probably open) and resentment, then yeah, that almost goes without saying. The Sinhalese government really hasn't been able to come up with a good state-building solution that brings the Tamils into the picture, and until they manage something close they're going to have Troubles on their hands.

 

[Masada]

The Sinhalese government really hasn't been able to come up with a good state-building solution that brings the Tamils into the picture, and until they manage something close they're going to have Troubles on their hands.

That seems to be the prevailing opinion, even the Tamil political parties the Sinhalese are 'working with' are pushing for regional autonomy, including control over police, funds for economic development etc. The Sinhalese are going to end up with a parallel state if they're not careful... that seems to be a given.

 

[Otitis]

Nation is a sticky word. If you mean that there will be lingering popular resistance (at first more quiet and passive, and later probably open) and resentment, then yeah, that almost goes without saying. The Sinhalese government really hasn't been able to come up with a good state-building solution that brings the Tamils into the picture, and until they manage something close they're going to have Troubles on their hands.

Well, we agree? It is going to take years to integrate the Tamils into the Sri Lankan state. Hell, it might never happen. However,

Anyway, yea, nation is a tough thing to pin down. I always considered "nations" to be an ethnic and/or cultural grouping somehow attached to a rough sketch of land.

I always considered a state to be a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force in a given territory, to rip off Weber.


Actually... that ain't bad, lol.

 

[druidravi]

It is good news . The LTTE is a terrorist organization which assassinated 2 heads of state . They have even killed Tamil politicians who do not support LTTE .They have carried out more suicide bombing than Hamas , Islamic Jihad and Al Queda combined(wiki) .

The tamils are better of without the LTTE . With the LTTE out of way , maybe a lasting peace could be achieved in Sri Lanka.