Colombo (AsiaNews) - The civil war in Sri Lanka continues to move forward on two fronts. The government is continuing its military offensive in the north, which is still in the hands of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but it is also trying to reduce political support for the rebels with a proposal for the devolution of powers in the contested zones.
Last January 23, the All Party Representative Committe (APRC) - an inter-party committee charged by the government with finding political solutions to the conflict - delivered to President Mahinda Rajapakse the text of a possible agreement to be submitted to the Tigers. The document, which was welcomed by the international community, won agreement from various political groups on the extension of greater autonomy to the Tamil-majority provinces in the north and east. It is a project that has already been presented in the past, but has found no consensus among the Tigers, who have decided not to make compromises on autonomy.
The government's strategy for a political solution to a war that has dragged on since 1983 does not exclude military attacks to "completely uproot terrorism" from the country. Since the government officially called off the cease-fire agreed in 2002, the clashes between the two sides have become even more hostile, with attacks against civilians as well. Today the army revealed that it had bombed a Tiger base in Kilinochchi, in the north. Yesterday, clashes between troops and separatists claimed at least 37 victims, including 30 rebels, according t the army. More than 70,000 people have died in more than 20 years of warfare.
