Lanka ceasefire falters in Tamil city

Lanka ceasefire falters in Tamil city

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Saturday, July 8, 2006 (Colombo):

Four years after a cease-fire raised hopes for peace between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, Sri Lanka is teetering on the brink of a civil war.

Sri Lanka's violence is perhaps felt nowhere as acutely as it is around Batticaloa, a largely Tamil city under government control just miles from rebel territory.

More than half of the nearly 700 people killed in Sri Lanka since April have been civilians, according to international truce monitors.

Almost every night at the front line of Vavunativu there is exchange of fire of automatic rifle, snipers and RPG.

There are only 500 metres between the bunkers and the defence lines of the Tamil Tigers and the last Sri Lanka Army Camp and both side accuse each other of initiating attacks.

"The Sri Lankan Army attacked the front line camps of the LTTE, specially the Vavunativu front line camp is being attack very often, with guns and shells," said Dahaya Mohan, leader of the political arm of the LTTE.

Ethnic struggle

The army on the other hand said it was the rebels who were always trying to provoke the soldiers by firing at them.

Naval battles, suicide bombings and jungle clashes have once again become the norm on this tropical island that for two decades has been largely known for the ferocious ethnic struggle between its Hindu Tamil minority and its Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

Still, the government and Tigers insist they are abiding by the truce, even as they settle into a pattern of attack and retaliation, with plenty of saber-rattling in between.

A "low-intensity war" is the description favoured by analysts and diplomats.

Anti-Tamil violence

International observers say however there has been a definite escalation in the violence.

"First it was like small guns, then it was grenades, then it was clamour mines, then it was aerial bombardments, then suicide attacks and so on. In that sense we can see a steady escalation of the situation at the moment," said Red Cross volunteer, Nicolas Von Arx.

The roots of Sri Lanka's conflict stretch back to the years after independence from Britain in 1948, when the government made Sinhala the official language, gave Buddhism a prominent role and Tamils faced widespread discrimination in schools and jobs.

In 1983, a spasm of anti-Tamil violence that killed hundreds sparked war.

Each side fought viciously: the Tigers used suicide bombings and murdered rival Tamil militants; the government routinely tortured Tamil civilians.

The death toll stood at more than 65,000 when the cease-fire was signed in 2002.

Political solution

By then, the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled wide swathes of the north and east where they have a country complete with border guards and traffic police.

But the Tigers still want to capture Tamil areas held by the government, like the northern port of Jaffna, capital of an ancient Tamil kingdom.

They also deny being behind the recent violence - a denial few here believe - and say they want a political solution.

The inner workings of the Tiger leadership remain a mystery to outsiders, and there's widespread speculation about their motives for attacks such as a June 15 bus bombing that killed 64 civilians, most Sinhalese.

Many say the Tigers are simply trying to push the government to grant broad autonomy over the territories they control.

Others warn the rebels could be softening up government forces ahead of the rainy season, which starts in August, when the government's armoured vehicles would be bogged down in mud.

The government's motives are clearer - it faces pressure from hard-line political allies, generals and Sinhalese nationalists to destroy the Tigers. (AP)

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