Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
port to welfare centres. The military, claiming that attacks were being launched from with-
in the safe zones, then shelled them for days.
With claims that the SLA was bombing civilians in 'safe areas', and counter-claims that
the LTTE was using Tamil civilians as human shields and stopping them from leaving the
conflict zone, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay accused both
sides of war crimes. But the international community remained largely quiet.
In
Crucible of Conflict: Tamil and Muslim Society on the East Coast of Sri Lanka,
Dennis
McGilvray argues that peace in Sri Lanka requires recognising the country's cultural di-
versity.
The Bitter End
By April, tens of thousands of Tamil civilians along with LTTE fighters were confined to a
single stretch of beach, where they were bombarded from all sides. The LTTE offered the
Sri Lankan government a unilateral ceasefire, but given that the Sri Lankan military's ob-
jectives were so close to being fulfilled, it was dismissed as 'a joke' by the Sri Lankan De-
fence Secretary. Other efforts by Swedish, French and British diplomats to inspire a truce
were also dismissed by a Sri Lankan government with ultimate battleground success in its
sights after three decades.
The government forces finally penetrated the LTTE and implored trapped war refugees
to move to safe areas. The Tigers allegedly blocked many from leaving and killed others;
refugees reported that government forces raped and executed many who surrendered.
The end finally came in May when the Sri Lankan military captured the last sliver of
coast and surrounded the few hundred remaining LTTE fighters. The LTTE responded by
announcing they had 'silenced their weapons' and that the 'battle had reached its bitter
end'. Several senior LTTE figures were killed, including leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran,
and the war that terrorised the country for 26 years was finally over.
TIMELINE
Pre 6th century BC
