World News Story

08 January 2009 22:02 BST

Sri Lanka - civil war

Now almost 25 years old, the civil war in Sri Lanka has intensified in recent weeks following the government's official withdrawal from a 2001 ceasefire.

Why war?

The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), commonly referred to as the Tamil Tigers, have been embroiled in a civil war that has claimed around 70,000 lives since it began in 1983. The Tigers claim the right to an independent state in the north and eastern parts of the island, while the government's relative military might has been deployed to end to what it describes as widespread terrorist activity. The predominantly Hindu Tamils make up around a quarter of the island's overall population of 20 million, with the vast majority of the remaining 15 million identifying themselves as Sinhalese and in most cases Buddhist.

Current conflict

Reports of bombings, atrocities, civilian casualties and the laying of blame continue to emanate from Sri Lanka with great frequency. An uneasy ceasefire agreed in principle in 2001 and confirmed in 2002 had been largely ignored for more than 18 months and is now officially abandoned. The Tigers have sought to gain some advantage by noting it was the government that opted out of the ceasefire agreement in January 2008.

Humanitarian crisis

Since the ceasefire deal effectively fell apart in 2006 the war has experienced two of its more bloody years and there are fears that the further disintegration of constructive relations between the government and the rebels will raise civilian casualty rates still further. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates close to 200,000 Sri Lankans are internally displaced and human rights organisations have claimed evidence that the LTTE has been using child soldiers. Up to 30,000 people were killed on the island as a result of the tsunami that struck just after Christmas 2004, with the civil war being blamed for hindering humanitarian relief efforts.

International response

The Tamil Tigers has been classified as a terrorist organisation by most western countries since May 2006, with the EU calling for more "political pluralism" in the areas it controls. Much of the international sympathy for the LTTE's cause dissipated in August 2005 when it was held responsible for the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar, a Tamil who had been critical of the Tigers and was then Sri Lanka's foreign minister. A number of European nations have played a notable role in bringing the two sides of the conflict to the negotiating table, with varying degrees of success in recent years. In the wake of the 2002 ceasefire agreement, the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was established and comprised primarily of relevant experts from Nordic nations. The SLMM ended its activities on the island this month as the ceasefire that prompted its founding was abandoned. In light of this, Human Rights Watch has suggested that the need for a UN operation with a "strong monitoring mandate" is becoming ever more acute.

Political positions

During negotiations in 2003, the LTTE proposed the establishment of a self-governing authority in Tamil territories and many observers see this kind of a settlement as a realistic hope for peace on the island. Over the past three years a number of disputes have seen different factions emerge within the north and eastern Tamil provinces.

The government is currently headed by Mahinda Rajapakse of the United People' Freedom Alliance who was elected to a six-year term in office in November 2005. President Rajapakse has stated that if the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran were captured he would be handed over to India to face trial for masterminding the assassination of its former prime minister Rajiv Ghandi.

Flashpoints

Recent years have seen heavy fighting between the Tigers and the government over strategically important ports and for control of natural resources. However, the most frequently disputed issue is that of control of the only major road link between the south of the island and rebel-held territory, the A9 highway. The road has now been closed for many months, a situation which has seen tens of thousands of Tamils unable to receive medical supplies, money or food for extended periods. Disagreement over whether or not to reopen the A9 is believed to have played a significant role in the failure of peace talks in late 2006.

Future for the island

The Tigers continue to hold out for some sort of devolution deal and the government has reasserted its intention to defeat the LTTE and end its terrorist activities. According to the government, its decision to pull out of the ceasefire will ultimately improve the chances of a negotiated settlement being reached. However, given the apparent determination of both sides to achieve their long-term goals, there are fears that the scale of violence will ratchet up and the humanitarian crisis will worsen over the course of 2008.