by claims of control throughout the Vanni, and by February, the LTTE
had lost 99% of the territory it had controlled just 12 months earlier.
Government advances pushed remaining LTTE forces and the
300,000 Tamil civilians they brought with them to an increasingly tiny
area in the northeast near Mullaittivu. Amid growing claims of civilian
casualties and humanitarian concerns for the noncombatants hemmed
in by the fighting, foreign governments and the UN called for an imme-
diate ceasefire in February 2009. Military operations continued, but es-
cape routes were opened for those fleeing the fighting to move to no-fire
zones, where there was to be further transport to welfare centres. The
military, claiming that attacks were being launched from within 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 Commis-
sioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay accused both sides of war crimes.
But the international community remained largely quiet.
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 unilater-
al ceasefire, but given that the Sri Lankan military’s objectives 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.
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
diversity.2005
Sinhalese nationalist
Mahinda Rajapaksa
wins presidential
elections. Before the
election Rajapaksa
signs a deal with the
Marxist JVp party,
rejects Tamil autonomy
outright and denies
tsunami aid to the LTTE.2008
The government pulls
out of the 2002 cease-
fire agreement, signal-
ling a single-minded
focus on a military
solution. From 1983
to 2008, an estimated
70,000 people have
died in the conflict.2008–2009
In the war’s final
months, up to 40,000
civilians are killed,
according to a later
report by a uN special
panel. The Sri Lankan
government denies any
civilian deaths.May 2009
After almost 30 years,
Asia’s longest-running
war ends in May when
the LTTE concedes
defeat after a bloody
last battle at Mullaitivu.
Legitimate Tamil aspi-
rations and grievances
remain.HistoryT
HE
E
N
D
o
F(^) THE
W
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