Sri Lanka Cleanses Tigers from the North

The Sri Lankan army is closing on a significant military defeat of their rebel adversaries in the North, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). This is a long-running conflict that has morphed from an ethnic/religious conflict into a much more complicated power struggle between opposing interests and authorities. Readers with interest in the tortured background are encouraged to start here.

More urgently, a couple of hundred thousand civilians are effectively trapped in the remaining disputed territory. “Military advances by the Sri Lankan government against the LTTE have come at a severe humanitarian cost,” said David Miliband, the U.K.'s foreign secretary.

And naturally, the government is claiming that the rebels are using these civilians as human shields - a charge we hear a lot these days. The truth, of course, is rather more complicated. What is very clear is the necessity to act now to protect the lives, interests and rights of the civilian population. The country's senior Christian clergy today made just such an appeal.

Of concern recently were reports that the Army had shelled a regional hospital and as a result tens of civilians died. The government does not deny the damage and casualties, but does deny dropping the cluster bombs that are blamed by eyewitnesses and NGOs for the damage. Uh-huh. Today, this article reports that all hospitals have been evacuated. There is reason to be concerned about the human rights record of the Sri Lankan government. It is sometimes noted that a country's commitment to human rights can be measured in the freedom of their press. For a really chilling read, check out this editorial penned by one of the country's former leading journalists printed at his direction following his death by assassination. "And then they came for me."

Technorati Tags: Sri Lanka, Civil War, LTTE