Utilisateur:Felipeh/Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is an ongoing conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils on the island-nation of Sri Lanka. Since the 1983 "Black July" pogrom, there has been on-and-off civil war, mostly between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or the LTTE, who want to create an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island. It is estimated that the war has left 65,000 people dead since 1983 and caused great harm to the population and economy of the country. A cease-fire was declared in 2002, but hostilities renewed in late 2005 following military operations against Tiger-controlled territory in the east. Following escalation of violence in July 2006, the rebels declared the ceasefire "null and void".

Guerre civile du Sri Lanka

en:Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

Tentative peace

Approximate extent of area under the control of the LTTE, as of December 2005

In 2001, however, the LTTE began to declare their willingness to explore measures that would safeguard Tamils' rights and autonomy as part of Sri Lanka, and announced a unilateral ceasefire just before Christmas 2001. The LTTE are believed to have taken this action after fear of international pressure and even direct US support of the Sri Lankan Government as part of the War on Terror.

In parliamentary elections toward the end of the year, the United National Front (UNF) came to power on a peace platform. For the first time since the 1978 constitution introduced a strong presidency, one party held the Presidency (Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka Freedom Party) and the other, Parliament (with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, United National Party). This co-habitation was extremely uneasy. The new government reciprocated another unilateral LTTE ceasefire offer at the end of 2001. The two sides formalized it in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in February 2002. Norway is mediating, and, together with the other Nordic countries, it also monitors the ceasefire through the SLMM. Many other countries are offering substantial financial support if peace is achieved.

Some Sinhalese and Muslims have refused to support any concessions unless the LTTE disarms and becomes a democratic political entity.

The LTTE temporarily pulled out of the peace talks in 2003, saying that insufficient attention was being put on developing an interim political solution. The government eventually produced a proposal, and the LTTE a counter-proposal, which President Kumaratunga responded to by taking over several defense-related ministries. Peace talks remained suspended. In 2004 she took over additional ministries and dissolved Parliament, calling an election, which brought her United People's Freedom Alliance to power.

During the election, LTTE commander Colonel Karuna of Batticaloa-Ampara split from the group's main leadership, claiming insufficient resources and power were being given to Tamils of the eastern part of the island and seeing the LTTE causing lot of damage to innocent Tamil civilians in the north and east. The LTTE officially sacked him, small-scale violence erupted between the LTTE groups, and tensions were extremely high. After the election, brief fighting south of Trincomalee led to a rapid retreat and capitulation of the Karuna group, their leaders eventually fleeing to Colombo. It has now been revealed that a ruling Muslim politician was involved with Karuna's escape.

The Asian tsunami of late 2004 killed more than 30,000 people in the country. It was hoped that the disaster would bring the warring sides together, but the conflict continued. during the Tsunami reinstating time the Sri Lankan Government and NGOs together with Sri Lankan citizens, Sinhalese and Muslim civilians help the LTTE captured area Tamil civilians by donating Food, Shelter and Medicines with a good heart, treating all as one nation. withing this period LTTE went so silent and were recieving all the help from the Government and Other parties to re-structure the daily life. soon after the SL Government opened the A9 road which is the only road way to the North of the island, some NGOs started transporting Live Ammunition, warheads, Satellite telecommunication systems and Cement to build bunkers to LTTE, later found out most of them were Norwegian affiliates and were asked to leave the country.

after a while LTTE started attacking Tsunami Aid Workers, some Foreigners were killed and injured and this made the True NGOs to stop there activities around Northern area although they are still active in Southern parts of the island (2008).

Renewed violence

Until 2005, the cease fire between the LTTE and the government largely held. However, the situation was complicated by allegations that both sides were carrying out covert operations against the other. The government claimed that LTTE rebels were killing opponents and government soldiers and getting away with it, while the rebels accused the government of supporting paramilitary groups against the organization.

The foreign minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar, was killed by a sniper on August 15, 2005. The government blamed the LTTE, but no retaliation was made.

In the 2005 presidential election, the UNF candidate, Wickremasinghe, advocated reopening talks with the LTTE. The UPFA candidate, Mahinda Rajapaksa, called for a tougher line and renegotiation of the ceasefire. The LTTE openly called for a boycott of the election by the Tamils, but, believing the Tamils were getting ready to vote in large numbers, the LTTE was accused of using violence and intimidation to enforce the boycott. Losing the chance to get a large number of Tamil votes meant a loss for Wickramasinghe and a narrow win for Rajapaksa. Despite being seen as a hardliner, Rajapakse promised to pursue peace and new talks with the rebels.

LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, in an annual address in November, stated that the Tigers would "renew their struggle" in 2006 if the government did not take serious moves toward peace.

Violence escalated in December 2005. Increased guerrilla activity included claymore mine attacks, clashes between the Sea Tigers and the Sri Lankan navy, and the killings of sympathizers on both sides. Prominent figures were targeted for assassination, including Joseph Pararajasingham, a pro-LTTE MP gunned down at a Christmas Mass. This violence left around 200 people dead. The LTTE, following their standard practice, denied responsibility for the attacks, blaming "armed civilian groups" for them. Other incidents such as assassination of Tamil journalists and civilians led the SLMM to question whether a ceasefire can still be said to exist. Observers believed that if serious steps are not taken towards peace, the country would return to war.

Another round of talks

In light of this renewed violence, the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor conference called both parties to come to the negotiation table. The co-chairs—the United States in particular—were heavily critical of the LTTE violence. US State Department officials, as well as the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, gave warnings to the Tigers claiming a return to hostilities would mean that the Tigers would face a "more determined" Sri Lankan military.

In a last-minute effort to salvage an agreement between the parties, the Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim and the LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham came to the island. The parties severely disagreed on the location of the talks; however, these last-minute efforts produced a breakthrough when both parties agreed the talks could be held in Geneva, Switzerland.

On February 7, 2006, Sri Lanka's government and the LTTE agreed to peace talks in Geneva definitively on February 22 and February 23. These talks were reported to have gone "above expectations", with both the government and the LTTE agreeing to curb the violence and to hold talks in April.

Over the next few weeks following the talks, violence dropped significantly. However, beginning in early April, violence increased. Assassinations, mine attacks, and ethnic violence in Trincomalee threatened talks in Geneva scheduled for April 19-21. The LTTE called for a postponement of the Geneva talks until April 24-25, and the government initially agreed to this. Following negotiations, both the government and the rebels agreed to a civilian vessel transporting the regional leaders with international truce monitors. The eastern commanders for the LTTE were to have travelled north for an internal meeting on April 16, 2006. The journey involved rebels and ceasefire monitors crossing government-controlled territory. However, the climate shifted drastically when the Tamil Tigers cancelled the meeting, claiming to have not agreed to the navy vessels' escort. According to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the Tamil rebels had agreed to the Sri Lankan navy vessels' escort. "It was part of the agreement. The rebels should have read the clauses carefully. We are frustrated," said Helen Olafsdottir, spokesperson for the SLMM.

Escalated violence ensued in mid April with suspected Tiger attacks, ethnic riots and unsolved murders. An attack on military vehicles using a claymore anti-personnel mine killed 10 navy sailors on April 11th. The following day, coordinated bombings by rebels and rioting in the north-eastern part of the country left 16 dead. A claymore anti-personnel mine exploded in Trincomalee, killing 2 policemen in their vehicle. Another blast, set off in a crowded vegetable market, killed 1 soldier and civilians. Ensuing rioting by civilians left more than a dozen dead. Responsibility for these attacks was claimed by an organisation called the Upsurging People's Force, which the military accused of being a front for the LTTE.

On April 20, 2006, the Tamil Tigers officially pulled out of peace talks indefinitely. While the LTTE state that transportation issues have prevented them from meeting their regional leaders, analysts and the international community held a deep scepticism, seeing the transportation issue by the rebels as a delaying tactic to avoid attending peace talks in Geneva.

On April 23, 2006, six Sinhalese rice farmers were executed in their paddy fields by suspected Tamil Tigers terrorists in the northeastern Trincomalee district. The following day, two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels were shot dead in Batticaloa while being caught planting mines after rebels reportedly hacked a young mother to death and kidnapped her infant.

International condemnation against the LTTE was repeated following an incident on April 25, 2006, as Anoja Kugenthirasah, a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber attacked the Sri Lankan Army headquarters in the capital, Colombo, killing 10. Twenty-seven were injured, including the army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, as the attacker detonated her concealed explosives near the military's hospital. The Sri Lankan military began aerial assaults on rebel positions in the north-eastern part of the island nation.

On May 10, the Sri Lankan Navy allegedly killed 13 Tamils, including two children, in Jaffna. Human right organizations condemn this incident.

New talks were scheduled in Oslo, Norway, for June 8-9. These were cancelled after the LTTE claimed its fighters were not being allowed safe passage to travel to the talks. On June 15, a claymore mine exploded next to a bus in central Sri Lanka, killing at least 64 civilians; this attack prompted air strikes against the rebels.

Following a naval battle off the coast of the town of Pesalai, Sri Lankan navy personel were accused of lobbing two grenades into the church "Our Lady of Victory," killing one Tamil civilian and injuring others taking refuge inside. The navy denied their men were involved, and in turn, blamed the LTTE. However several witnesses, including an international aid worker gave near identical accounts of the navy's involvement. The chief bishop stated his church had been desecrated, by "unjust aggressors, the Sri Lankan Navy" in an angry letter to the Vatican. Days later, the rebels were accused by the Government of Sri Lanka and the military of firing small fire arms at a Buddhist temple, however these claims were dismissed by the head Buddhist monk of the temple, who stated that his shrine was never targeted and "All through the conflict, we never had any trouble from the Tigers."

Sri Lankan general Parami Kulatunga was killed June 26 by an LTTE suicide bomber.

Resumption of hostilities

A new crisis, and possibly the resumption of war, emerged in July 2006. The Sri Lankan government claimed the LTTE was blocking a sluice gate in the north-east that provided water to civilians. The Air Force attacked LTTE positions and ground troops began an operation to open the gate. This prompted the Head of the SLMM to state: "It is definitely the wrong method. It is definitely overkill if you want the water. We sat talking and got clearance from the government and tried to convince the LTTE to have confidence in the government...They dropped a bomb in the vicinity. That's not the right signal." Following these moves, LTTE political leader S Elilan announced an end to the cease-fire of 2001. Palitha Kohona, a government spokesman, stated that the government is committed to the cease-fire. However, fierce fighting erupted in the vicinity of the gate as well as in Trincomalee. Fighting near the Muslim-majority town of Muttur in early August killed at least 30 civilians and displaced 22 000 residents of the area. The LTTE eventually withdrew from the town of Muttur and it seemed an end to the stalemate was in sight as Norwegian mediators persuaded the Tamil rebels to reopen the sluice gates. However as SLMM truce monitors and rebels approached the reservoir area, the Sri Lankan military recommenced artillery attacks thus forestalling the expected reopening of the gates . This attack on the rebels and SLMM officials prompted condemnation from SLMM Chief Tommy Lekenmyr, who stated "(The government) have the information that the LTTE has made this offer." "It is quite obvious they are not interested in water. They are interested in something else," "We will blame this on the government."

Soon afterwards, it emerged that 17 Tamil NGO humanitarian workers, working for the International French charity Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Muthur, were found executed. They were found lying faced down on the floor of their office, with bullet wounds, still wearing their clearly marked T shirts indicating they were international humanitarian workers. The murders prompted widespread international condemnation. Relatives blamed the Sri Lankan armed forces for the murders. Some Western diplomats conceded that early indications "look like the Government was involved." The head of the ACF was denied initial access to the incident site by soldiers. Pressure on the Sri Lankan Government increased for a full, independent probe into the killings. Australian forensic experts have been requested to help in the investigation.

The sluice gates were eventually reopened the next day with conflicting reports as to who actually opened them, despite this, the army continued major ground and air offensives against the rebels in the area.. Aid groups accused the government of forcing civilians to flee Tiger areas by shelling and deliberately blocking aid. “The military and government are blocking the flow of aid into Tiger areas which is a violation of the cease-fire,” The Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies said late on August 10th. “We can’t reach people in need.” Fighting continues in the area.