Sri Lanka rebels concede defeat in civil war

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-18 07:59

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority after years of marginalization at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that after defeating the rebels, his government will begin talks toward power sharing and political reconciliation between the two communities. But many Tamils are skeptical that the victorious government will be willing to make real concessions.

At their height, the rebels controlled 5,400 square miles (14,000 square kilometers), nearly one-fifth of this Indian Ocean island nation.

They had a conventional army complete with artillery batteries, a large navy and even a nascent air force, funded by an estimated $200 million to $300 million a year they made from smuggling, fraud and appeals to Tamil expatriates. They also carried out hundreds of suicide attacks — including the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi — and were listed as a terror group by the U.S., European Union and India.

A 2002 cease-fire briefly halted the fighting, but it broke down more than three years ago, and Rajapaksa vowed to destroy the rebels. With victory all but assured, Rajapaksa raced home from a trip abroad and was blessed at the airport Sunday morning by Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu and Muslim clerics. He scheduled a nationally televised news conference for Tuesday morning at Parliament.

Sri Lankans poured into the streets of the capital, Colombo, lighting firecrackers, dancing to the beat of traditional drums, waving the flag and hugging soldiers.

"We all will be able to live in peace in our motherland again," said Jinadasa Liyanage, 26.

Yet the fate of Prabhakaran, the founder and unquestioned leader of the Tamil Tigers, and his top deputies remained unclear.

A senior military official said troops found the bodies of several rebel fighters who had committed suicide Sunday when troops surrounded them. The bodies were suspected of being Prabhakaran and his deputies, but the military was still trying to confirm their identities, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

In an interview with Britain's Channel 4 news to be aired Sunday night, Pathmanathan said he had spoken with Prabhakaran personally and the rebel leader remained inside the war zone.

The portly, mustachioed Prabhakaran led the Tamil Tigers for more than three decades, transforming it from little more than a street gang into a feared guerrilla group. He is seen as the heart and soul of the movement.

The rebels have said that if they lost the conventional war they would return to their guerrilla roots.

The war zone was wracked by chaos Sunday, as troops sought to mop up the final pockets of resistance, Nanayakkara said. At least one suicide bomber attacked troops in the morning, the latest in a wave of rebel attacks on the advancing forces in recent days, he said. Troops killed at least 70 rebels trying to flee by boat, the military said.

Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he was praying for peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka and called on aid groups to do everything possible to care for the fleeing civilians.

"There are thousands of children, women, old people for whom the war has taken years of their lives and hope," Benedict said.

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