The Sri Lankan civil war simmers on
The Civil War in Sri Lanka is an example of where the "international community" can do everything multilateral and right against a declared terrorist organization and still not make any headway. Today, the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) killed more than 100 Sri Lankan sailors in a VBIED attack on a bus depot. Attempts by the Sri Lankan Air Force to retaliate fizzled when its attack aircraft crashed on takeoff and the pilot ejected safely into a nearby lagoon.
Sri Lanka has suffered its worst ever suicide attack when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a truck packed with explosives next to a convoy of sailors, killing at least 102 people and wounding 150 more. ... The bombing occurred about 170 kilometres (105 miles) northeast of Colombo at a transit point for security personnel coming to and from the front line of the drawn-out conflict in the restive northeastern district of Trincomalee. "Suicide bombers drove a truck packed with explosives into the area where there were about 15 buses," a police official in nearby Sigiriya town told AFP by telephone. "We have two helicopters to evacuate the wounded". ...
The military moved to carry out retaliatory air strikes against the Tigers, but an Israeli-built Kfir war plane crashed shortly after take off from a military base here, officials said. They said the aircraft crashed into the Negombo lagoon, but the pilot ejected to safety and was rescued by helicopters.
Wikipedia notes that "The LTTE has been blamed for forcibly removing (or "ethnically cleansing") Sinhalese and Muslim inhabitants from areas under its control, including the use of violence against those who refuse to leave. Most notably, the LTTE forcibly expelled the entire Muslim population of Jaffna on two hours notice in 1990. The LTTE are also accused of organising massacres of Sinhala villagers who settled in the Northeast under the dry lands policy"
Less than a month ago, the Tigers engaged in their latest round of population expulsions. "Hundreds of Muslim families are fleeing their homes in eastern Sri Lanka amid fears of a Tamil Tiger rebel assault to reclaim territory taken by government forces in recent fighting, a local government leader said Saturday. The chairman of the government in the coastal town of Mutur, who goes by the single name Thoufeek, said 700 to 800 families - about 10 percent of the population - left on Friday and Saturday after the Tamil Tiger separatists warned that they were planning an offensive."
Unlike other militant groups, the Tigers are said to receive funding support, not from states sponsors, but from expatriate Tamils in Western countries, despite having been declared a terrorist group by India (since 1992), United States of America, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union. In exchange for proscribing the Tigers, international diplomats have encouraged the Sri Lankan government to negotiate with the rebels and have provided large amounts of relief money over which both sides have squabbled, ironically triggering more clashes. The Norwegian government has deployed a mediating force to monitor a ceasefire that has since collapsed. Now things look as grim as they ever did.
Commentary
The difficulty experienced by the international community in finding a solution to a civil war on a relatively small island between rebels who have no significant state support and the Sri Lankan government shows how ineffective traditional policy are in fixing problems like this. Other than waiting for conflicts like this to burn out or resolve themselves on the battlefield there seems little the "international community" can directly do the affect the course of events.
posted by wretchardthecat at 10/16/2006 02:41:00 PM
9 Comments:
Welcome back. Jimmy Carter is not running the Sri Lankan Air Force from the Carter Center is he?
Seems odd that the LTTE has always been portrayed as a terrorist group. Just wondering where the lefty Hollywood starlet type is - proclaiming them to be minutemen or patriots or some such.
Anyway, sounds like they have greivences going back to at least the '70's. I wonder what their beef is with the adherants of "the religion of peace"?
And why will there never be a US Navy blockade of Sri Lanka to bring the terrorists to heel? There's no oil there.
LTTE must be bad dudes if Muslims run away from them.
robert schwartz,
It put me in mind of Alien versus Predator, though a kinder comparison would be the Terminator versus Robocop. But it does destroy one's faith in human nature to realize that violence works so well. Not in the long run, but certainly in the very short run.
Teresita, be open minded and at least a little fair, this started before GW was prez so why did Clinton not blockade them? To be fair, I would say there are bigger massacres happening during both Prez times, Rwanda, Darfur or the Balkans. Oh wait they have never found the hundreds of thousands ethnic cleansed mass graves that Clinton and his minions said there was, but they have and are still finding them in Iraq, gee I guess it is hard to be fair in this, why didn’t Clinton blockade Sri Lanka?
Thanks, Krishna.
By your summary I would guess you have some first-hand knowledge of recent LTTE history.
Still, I wonder why, in the reports we see coming from there, they make it a point to describe "ethnic cleansing" of Muslims (and others), etc. Can you tell us if this is an accurate statement or just more Islamic apologizing.
Thanks krishna.
Sounds like much of the modern day 'attitude' of these groups (generally speaking) is based on past injustices.
The concepts of humility and forgiveness, are they part of Hindu doctrine?
Krishna-Kirir wrote as """"""""As regards to how the press reports ethnic cleansing, I think the term is accurate. The LTTE engages in ethnic cleansing against at least two groups: the Simhalese, who are Buddhists, and the Muslims. I've not heard of it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Christians also found themselves on the wrong end of an LTTE sponsored ethnic cleansing."""""""""""""""""""""""
WELL, I CAN'T SEE ANY UTTER LIE IN THE WORLD THAN THESE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST A GENUINE LIBERATION ORGANISATION LIKE LTTE.
PLEASE REFER THE SRILANKAN CENSUS(IN TAMIL AREAS ESPECIALLY IN THE EAST -TRINCOMALLEE, BATTICOLA, AMPARA AND IN THE NE MANALARU AND VAVUNIYA IN THE NORTH)TO SEE THE PATTERN OF ETHNIC CLEANSING OF TAMILS AND MUSLIMS BY THE SRILANKAN GOVERNMENTS SINCE 1948 TO DATE. THE LATEST EXAMPLE- SRILANKAN OPEN NAKED ETHNIC CLEANSING OF MORE THAN 200,000 TAMILS IN TRINCOMALLEE AND VAHARAI IN BATTICOLA.
THE SINHALESE POPULATION WAS UNDER 0.5% OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF NORTH AND EAST IN 1948. ONE WONDER HOW THE SINHALESE POPULATION GROWN TO 40% IN THE EAST ALONE IF THE LTTE ETHNICALLY CLEANSED THEM???????????????????????????????
THE MUSLIM POPULATION WERE ETHNICALLY CLEANSED BY THE SINHALA CHAUVINIST TERRORISTS IN 1915.
PLEASE SEE THE NEWS IN 1915 AND READ HOW THE SINHALA TERRORISTS ETHNICALLY CLEANSED MUSLIMS FROM KANDY DISTRICT.
Riots 1915
1915 Major Sinhala-Muslim riot took place. In June, Sinhala Budhist-Muslim riots in Ceylon. Riots spread from the central province to the western and northwestern provinces.
There were heavy casualities amongst the Muslims. According to available records, 146 Muslims were killed and 405 Muslims were injured and 62 Muslims women have been raped by major Sinhalese. Nearly 85 mosques were damaged and more than 4,075 Muslin-owned shops were looted by the Sinhala rioters.
http://www.nitharsanam.com/?page=riot_1915
PLEASE READ HOW THE SRILANKA SYSTEMATICALLY ETHNICALLY CLEANSED TAMILS AND MUSLIMS IN THE EAST AND COLONISED SINHAESE CRMINALS AND THUGS WITH WEAPONS INTO THE TAMIL AREAS.
A Rebuttal to H.L.De Silva's Reviving the Moribund Concept of a merger: A Betrayal of the National Interest
http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=74&id=4788
PLEASE ALSO SEE THE INDICTMENT OF SRILANK: WAR ON TAMILS
http://www.tamilnation.org/indictment/index.htm
http://www.tamilnation.org/humanrights.htm
PLEASE READ THE BLOODY HISTORY OF THE NAZI SINHALA TERRORIST STATE CALLED SRILANKA WHO USE BUDDHISM AND DEMOCRACY AS TWIN COVER TO HIDE THE SYSTEMATIC ETHNIC CLEANSING OF TAMILS, MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS SINCE 1948 TO DATE.
AS PER SO CALLED HINDU TERRORISM, WE TAMILS ARE THE MOST SECULUR PEOPLE IN THE WORLD AND DON'T FAVOUR ANY RELIGION AS WE VALUE THE THE MOST SECULUR BOOK CALLED THIRUKKURAL AS OUR BIBLE RATHER THAN BEING NARROW MINDE INTO RELIGIOUS BOOKS AND SEE THE LTTE'E ISGA PROPOSALS
Proposal of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on behalf of the Tamil people
for an agreement to establish an interim self governing authority
for the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka
http://www.tamilnation.org/conflictresolution/tamileelam/norway/031101isga.htm
WHERE YOU CAN FIND THAT NO RELIGION WILL BE GIVEN PRIVILLAGE STATUS IN TAMIL AREAS BUT SRILANKA ENACTED THE SINHALA AND BUDDHISM AS THE STATE ONLY LANGUAGE AND RELIGION IN 1956 AND STILL REFUSUING TO BE SECULUR.
TAMILS HAD THEIR SEPARATE NATION BEFORE THE BRITISH CAME TO THE ISLAND, DUTCH AND PORTUGESE GOVERNED BOTH TAMIL AND SINHALA NATIONS SEPARATELY BUT THE BRITISH INVADERS JOINED BOTH OF THEM WITHOUT OUR CONSENT. TAMILS SHOULD HAVE SEPARATED THE TAMILEELAM IN 1948 LIKE MOHAMMED ALI JINNAH DID SEAPRATE PAKISTAN FROM INDIA.
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