Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Geneva failed again. The optimistic days of negotiation and ceasefire seemed more distant
than ever.
In January 2008 the Sri Lankan government officially pulled out of the ceasefire agree-
ment, signalling its dedication to ending the 25-year-old civil conflict by military means.
Later in the year the LTTE offered a unilateral 10-day ceasefire in support of the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit being held in August in
Colombo. The government, suspicious that the LTTE planned to use the ceasefire as a time
to shore up its strength, responded with an emphatic no.
Cornering the LTTE
A change in military strategy saw the Sri Lankan security forces fight fire with fire with an
increase in guerrilla-style attacks, and by August the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) had entered
the LTTE's final stronghold, the jungle area of the Vanni. The Sri Lankan government
stated that the army was on track to capture the LTTE capital Kilinochchi by the end of
2008. Faced with a series of battleground defeats, the LTTE struck back with another sui-
cide bomb in Anuradhapura, killing 27 people.
In September 2008 the Sri Lankan government ordered UN agencies and NGOs to leave
the Vanni region, saying it could no longer guarantee their safety. This may have been true,
but their withdrawal denied a beleaguered population of Tamils access to humanitarian
support and the security of a human-rights watchdog. The departure of the NGOs and the
barring of independent journalists from the conflict region made (and continues to make) it
impossible to verify claims made by either side about the final battles of the war.
Government and LTTE forces remained dug in around Kilinochchi - the de facto capital
of the unofficial Tamil Eelam state since 1990 - until the SLA declared victory there in
January 2009. This was followed rapidly by claims of control throughout the Vanni, and
by February, the LTTE had lost 99% of the territory it had controlled just 12 months earli-
er.
Government advances pushed remaining LTTE forces and the 300,000 Tamil civilians
they brought with them to an increasingly tiny area in the northeast near Mullaittivu. Amid
growing claims of civilian casualties and humanitarian concerns for the noncombatants
hemmed in by the fighting, foreign governments and the UN called for an immediate
ceasefire in February 2009. Military operations continued, but escape routes were opened
for those fleeing the fighting to move to no-fire zones, where there was to be further trans-
