*
The war in Sri Lanka was mentioned briefly in Story 4 of my movie Date Number One (with those lines of dialogue having been written in early '08, much has changed). Here's the latest on the war, from The Economist:
"WITH loudhailers hitched to the tallest palmyrah trees, Tamil-speaking soldiers of the Sri Lanka army had for weeks been urging civilians inside a dwindling strip of territory held by the rebel Tamil Tigers to break through their cordon and flee. But since April 20th, when the army burst an embankment at Putumattalan, the authorities have been overwhelmed by the thousands pouring out. The Tigers’ defences were less to keep the army out than to fence the civilians in."
And:
"The army, which after two years of pitched battles has cornered the rebels into a 5km (three-mile) stretch of land, says it has slowed down the offensive because of the difficulty of distinguishing rebels from civilians. They wear similar clothes."
Read the rest of The Economist article here.
So, as a character in Date Number One said, if the government and the LTTE were to be considered two evils (neither have been models of righteous behavior during their 26 years of fighting), the greater of the two for the last few years, as far as I can tell - the LTTE - are in retreat & are close to collapse - so, perhaps a relief from war is on its way to Sri Lanka.
For more links re: the status of the conflict, check out this Sepia Mutiny post.
- Sujewa
"WITH loudhailers hitched to the tallest palmyrah trees, Tamil-speaking soldiers of the Sri Lanka army had for weeks been urging civilians inside a dwindling strip of territory held by the rebel Tamil Tigers to break through their cordon and flee. But since April 20th, when the army burst an embankment at Putumattalan, the authorities have been overwhelmed by the thousands pouring out. The Tigers’ defences were less to keep the army out than to fence the civilians in."
And:
"The army, which after two years of pitched battles has cornered the rebels into a 5km (three-mile) stretch of land, says it has slowed down the offensive because of the difficulty of distinguishing rebels from civilians. They wear similar clothes."
Read the rest of The Economist article here.
So, as a character in Date Number One said, if the government and the LTTE were to be considered two evils (neither have been models of righteous behavior during their 26 years of fighting), the greater of the two for the last few years, as far as I can tell - the LTTE - are in retreat & are close to collapse - so, perhaps a relief from war is on its way to Sri Lanka.
For more links re: the status of the conflict, check out this Sepia Mutiny post.
- Sujewa
