World Affairs

Welcome to yet another edition of World Affairs. In this issue we have one article by RAnderson which explains the final stages of a bloody civil war in Sri Lanka. Read on for the details on the end of one of the longest running wars in the world.

RAnderson

Sri Lanka - By: RAnderson

There has been a civil war in Sri Lanka for over 25 years. It was fought between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE although more commonly known throughout the world as the Tamil Tigers. The Tamil Tigers were a separatist paramilitary group that wanted a country in the north east of Sri Lanka for the Tamil minority. It was one of the most deadly ongoing conflicts in the world; the tactics used by the Tamil Tigers has resulted in them being listed as a terrorist organization in 32 countries. The civil war has its origins all the way back when Sri Lanka first gained its independence from Britain in 1948. While writing the first post-independence constitution tempers flared between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. Things boiled over with the passing of a law establishing the Sinhalese language as the sole official language of the Sri Lankan government. This was the spark that started the lead up to civil war. The actual beginning of the civil war is a little hard to pin point because beginning in about the mid-70's the Tamil Tigers began carrying out assassinations. They targeted mainly policemen and moderate Tamil politicians who attempted to talk with the government of Sri Lanka. This campaign of assassinations would extend into a full scale armed conflict in July 1983 (known as Black July), following the killings of between 1,000 and 3,000 Tamils in response to an ambush by a Tamil militant group.

In 2006, the government of Sri Lanka resumed a major offensive against the strongholds of the Tamil Tigers in the north and east of the country. Over the course of the next 3 years, the government drove the Tigers out of the eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, and continued to drive them farther and farther north. The Tamil Tigers were left with only 3% of the territory that they at one time possessed. The remaining Tigers were trapped, and there final strongholds would soon fall.

However, the Tigers were not the only ones trapped with little hope for escape. There were over 200,000 civilians trapped inside a 14 square kilometer zone of land. These civilians were under direct fire from both sides. The Tigers held those in the area as hostages and would kill any who attempted to leave, while the government of Sri Lanka shelled the entire area indiscriminately hitting hospitals and civilian living quarters. Following the great outcry from human rights group the government declared this area a “no-fire” zone. However while the Sri Lankan government continued to force the Tigers back into the no-fire zone the deaths of civilians began to mount again. By the end of the war the more than 6,000 civilians had been killed and at least 14,000 had been wounded.

On May 16 the president of Sri Lanka declared victory over the Tigers, but the war didn't officially end until the following day when the final pockets of resistance were cleared out. On May 18 the government of Sri Lanka confirmed that the leader of the Tigers along with his top aides had been killed by a rocket propelled grenade attack as they were trying to flee the war zone. With the fighting over it remains to be seen how the government will respond, will they allow international aid and attempt to ensure that the displaced civilians are treated well, or will they further alienate the Tamil minority and set the stage for a second civil war.

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