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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka's President Predicts Defeat of Tamil Tigers |
| 2009-02-05 |
| Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa proclaimed in an Independence Day message on Wednesday that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam would be "completely defeated in a few days," potentially signaling an end to a 25-year insurgency that is one of the world's longest ongoing conflicts. The rebel's last holdouts are penned into a small zone in the north of the island nation, and reports from the war zone indicate that they are close to being overrun amid fierce fighting with government forces. Civilian casualties have been significant: United Nations officials said that 52 civilians were killed in the past day, and that cluster bombs had struck a hospital. But Rajapaksa used Sri Lanka's national day to emphasize that the end of fighting might be near. Government forces have taken over major rebel-held areas and cornered the Tamil Tigers in a 120-square-mile stretch of coastal land -- though analysts say guerrilla fighting might persist for months. International diplomats have begun urging the government to turn its focus from conflict to crafting a truce agreement with the rebels, increasing humanitarian help for those caught in the war zone and negotiating a long-term agreement with the country's Tamil minority. "For nearly three decades, we were forced to celebrate independence with an illegal armed group operating in our country," said Rajapaksa, who spoke from a heavily secured beachfront stage, guarded by tanks and navy ships, as 4,200 decorated service members marched in a military parade. "We have now been able, within a short period of 2 1/2 years, to completely defeat the cowardly forces of terror." He also appeared to reach out to hundreds of thousands of minority ethnic Tamils who have sought political asylum in the West. "At this moment I urge all Sri Lankans from all communities who fled the country because of the war to return to their motherland," Rajapaksa said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 ION SRI LANKA, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > SRI LANKAN ARMY CAPTURES REBEL SUBMARINES - THE TAMIL TIGERS HAD SUBMARINES [covert Midget/Mini-Sub factory]! PDF POSTERS MAJORILY SUSPECT EITHER INDIA ANDOR ISRAEL as likely foreign source since the Tamil Tigers as a Militant org are gener viewed as NOT being TECH-SAAVY??? OTHER > Tamil Tigers notsomuch "defeated" as stopping their armed campaigns for a time and going into deep cover [e.g. HAMAS = POLITICAL?]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-02-05 01:19 |