Sinking
The Economist Global Agenda
May 11, 2006
A naval battle off Sri Lanka's coast on Thursday May 11th has killed at least 15 people—and perhaps as many as 45. A ceasefire between Tamil Tiger rebels and the government, which was already falling apart, looks all but wrecked
ALTHOUGH details remained sketchy late on Thursday, a naval battle off the coast of northern Sri Lanka has probably sunk any faint hopes of preserving a ceasefire called to end a bitter war. In the worst violation yet of the four-year-old truce, some 15 to 20 Sri Lankan sailors were killed on Thursday May 11th as Tamil Tiger rebels destroyed their Israeli-built attack boat. Nordic monitors who witnessed the battle said a rebel flotilla of 15 craft may have sunk two government boats and attacked a ferry that was transporting hundreds of troops to Jaffna, at the far northern tip of Sri Lanka.
The government responded by launching its own attacks. One spokesman said 30 rebel sailors were killed during the battle itself. On land the military fired artillery shells and rockets from the north-eastern port town of Trincomalee into rebel-run territory. Local reports say the town seems almost deserted after many residents fled to the jungle or locked themselves in their homes.
Nordic monitors call the latest rebel attack a “gross violation” of the 2002 ceasefire, but it is growing obvious that the truce is now virtually meaningless. Neither side wishes to be seen to call off the ceasefire. But in the past month alone some 200 people have been killed in violence between the two sides. That suggests war is gradually restarting. Over 60,000 people were killed after separatist Tamil Tigers (known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam) launched a campaign for their own state in 1983.
By no measure is Sri Lanka a country at peace. On April 25th, a heavily-pregnant Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up at the army’s much-fortified headquarters in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, seriously wounding the hawkish army chief, Sarath Fonseka, and killing a number of his bodyguards. In response the government’s naval artillery pulverised rebel positions near Trincomalee, sending thousands of local people fleeing into the jungle for refuge. In the east a spate of rebel landmine strikes on Sri Lankan soldiers, and revenge attacks by Sinhalese mobs on Tamil villagers, have left more than 100 people dead.
Talks in February, aimed at shoring up the truce and thus paving the way for stalled peace talks to resume, ended with an agreement by both sides to rein in the violence. But as soon as the ink had dried, the government accused the Tigers of attacking its soldiers, while the rebels claimed the army was continuing to encourage paramilitaries, led by a renegade Tiger commander, to attack its forces in the east.
The truce began unravelling after the election in November of a hardline Sinhalese president, Mahinda Rajapakse, whose party's main coalition partners, the JVP and JHU, have repeatedly called for the existing ceasefire agreement to be scrapped or redrafted, and for an end to Norway's role as peace-broker. Since then, the two sides have accused each other of carrying out a shadow war. The battle on Thursday suggests the violence is moving out of the shadows.
Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
May 11, 2006
A naval battle off Sri Lanka's coast on Thursday May 11th has killed at least 15 people—and perhaps as many as 45. A ceasefire between Tamil Tiger rebels and the government, which was already falling apart, looks all but wrecked
ALTHOUGH details remained sketchy late on Thursday, a naval battle off the coast of northern Sri Lanka has probably sunk any faint hopes of preserving a ceasefire called to end a bitter war. In the worst violation yet of the four-year-old truce, some 15 to 20 Sri Lankan sailors were killed on Thursday May 11th as Tamil Tiger rebels destroyed their Israeli-built attack boat. Nordic monitors who witnessed the battle said a rebel flotilla of 15 craft may have sunk two government boats and attacked a ferry that was transporting hundreds of troops to Jaffna, at the far northern tip of Sri Lanka.
The government responded by launching its own attacks. One spokesman said 30 rebel sailors were killed during the battle itself. On land the military fired artillery shells and rockets from the north-eastern port town of Trincomalee into rebel-run territory. Local reports say the town seems almost deserted after many residents fled to the jungle or locked themselves in their homes.
Nordic monitors call the latest rebel attack a “gross violation” of the 2002 ceasefire, but it is growing obvious that the truce is now virtually meaningless. Neither side wishes to be seen to call off the ceasefire. But in the past month alone some 200 people have been killed in violence between the two sides. That suggests war is gradually restarting. Over 60,000 people were killed after separatist Tamil Tigers (known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam) launched a campaign for their own state in 1983.
By no measure is Sri Lanka a country at peace. On April 25th, a heavily-pregnant Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up at the army’s much-fortified headquarters in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, seriously wounding the hawkish army chief, Sarath Fonseka, and killing a number of his bodyguards. In response the government’s naval artillery pulverised rebel positions near Trincomalee, sending thousands of local people fleeing into the jungle for refuge. In the east a spate of rebel landmine strikes on Sri Lankan soldiers, and revenge attacks by Sinhalese mobs on Tamil villagers, have left more than 100 people dead.
Talks in February, aimed at shoring up the truce and thus paving the way for stalled peace talks to resume, ended with an agreement by both sides to rein in the violence. But as soon as the ink had dried, the government accused the Tigers of attacking its soldiers, while the rebels claimed the army was continuing to encourage paramilitaries, led by a renegade Tiger commander, to attack its forces in the east.
The truce began unravelling after the election in November of a hardline Sinhalese president, Mahinda Rajapakse, whose party's main coalition partners, the JVP and JHU, have repeatedly called for the existing ceasefire agreement to be scrapped or redrafted, and for an end to Norway's role as peace-broker. Since then, the two sides have accused each other of carrying out a shadow war. The battle on Thursday suggests the violence is moving out of the shadows.
Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.
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