COLOMBO -- Sri Lankan armed forces have surrounded a shrinking number of Tamil Tiger rebels in the northeastern part of the country in a bid to crush the separatist movement and end Asia's longest-running civil war.On Thursday, the army built on recent advances, taking control of a makeshift airstrip used by Tamil Tiger aircraft in recent bombing raids. The military also captured a village about 12 miles from the remaining rebel stronghold Mullaittivu, said Brig. V.U.B. Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan military.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE -- the force that has been fighting more than a quarter-century for a separate Tamil state -- now appeared confined to a 230-square-mile wedge just below the Jaffna peninsula. The army is trying to overcome an estimated 1,600 or so remaining Tiger fighters, the spokesman said, compared with about 15,000 in 2006, when peace talks collapsed. "It won't take much more time," he said.
Although the end of a conventional military campaign is within sight, few expect the fighting to stop completely, and many observers continue to call for a political as well as a military solution.
The Tamil Tigers retreat doesn't appear to have ended their ability to carry out guerrilla attacks to advance political goals. Late last month, a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed eight people at a market outside the capital of Colombo.
Critics of the government say its fixation on armed force has alienated many Tamils, making it increasingly difficult to resolve the conflict. "The military is capturing territory it has lost, but the government isn't coming up with a political solution," said Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, a Sri Lankan politician who leads a group of pro-Tamil Tiger parliamentarians.
| Easier to have a political solution once you've got the military solution. See Germany, June, 1945 ... |
"We are not against the Tamil people. We are against terrorists," the president told a group of journalists. "We must understand that this country belongs to the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and all communities, who have equal rights as citizens of this country, and we will work to safeguard these rights."
The Sri Lankan military campaign, however, has coincided with brutal attacks against government critics. Last week, unidentified armed men shot dead Lasantha Wickramatunga, a newspaper editor known for his critical exposés of the government. Assailants also attacked a private television station, detonating explosives in a studio. A foreign ministry official said the government is investigating the attacks.
The fighting in northern Sri Lanka has displaced hundreds of thousands of the Tamil minority, about 18% of the country's population.
The Tamil Tigers also have come under fire for their abuse of their minority -- who speak their own language and are mostly Hindu. The rebels recruit children to fight, bomb civilian targets and kill political opponents -- including Tamils, according to Human Rights Watch. The U.S. is among the foreign governments that have declared the LTTE a terrorist organization, but it has also urged a political solution to the conflict.
In recent weeks, the government's military campaign has made big strides. Troops captured Kilinochchi, an administrative center for the Tamil Tigers, and seized Elephant Pass, a key point of access to the Jaffna Peninsula. The army is trying to lure away the remnants of the Tamil Tiger leadership, Brig. Nanayakkara said. The rebels are offered safety and a livelihood. About 50 have surrendered and been sent to rehabilitation camps, he said.
