ForgottenDiaries.org

The nature of the main Tamil nationalist organisation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has made any peace settlement particularly hard. The LTTE have been banned in many countries, many of which have labelled it a 'terrorist organization' because of its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, widespread human rights abuses, and its intolerance of any dissent among Tamils.

 

Sinhalese-dominated political parties have consistently failed to reach consensus on reasonable power-sharing or devolution proposals that might be acceptable to the majority of Tamils. Party politics has interfered with any common approach to the conflict, and extreme nationalist parties have frequently derailed any attempt to offer concessions. Without a two-thirds majority in parliament – which no single party can achieve under current electoral rules – no constitutional reforms are possible. The LTTE has shown no interest in even the most generous devolution proposals offered by recent governments.

 

A peace process began in 2002, but talks broke down due to misunderstandings, lack of will on both sides, and the LTTE’s numerous violations of the ceasefire. The ceasefire agreement was effectively over by early 2006, and full-scale military conflict had begun again by July of that year. At least 6,000 people have been killed since. Government forces have made significant advances, winning back the entirety of Eastern Province by mid-2007, now attempting to regain control of the areas in the Northern Province still held by the LTTE. Fighting has escalated since early 2008, when the government formally withdrew from the ceasefire.

 

Both the Government and the LTTE continue to envoke serious human rights violations daily as economyic development stagnates and inflation rises sharply.