Word: lankans
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Last July the Sri Lankan government and the island's militant minority, known as the Tamils, agreed to call a truce to their bloody three-year-old civil war. But the agreement quickly broke down, and hundreds have died in renewed fighting over the past ten weeks. Last week an umbrella group representing the four Tamil guerrilla factions agreed to a new cease-fire that could lead to fresh talks on Tamil demands for self-rule...
...Bangladesh's next-door neighbors, India, also was quick to announce its support. After committing $10 million, along with medical personnel and food, to the stricken land, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi scheduled a visit to Bangladesh to express his sympathy and to tour the ravaged areas. Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene, who was due to hold talks with Gandhi, promised to come too, in a show of "South Asian solidarity...
...tree under which Buddha found enlightenment, the guerrillas seemed almost eager to provoke retaliation. It did not take long. In the bloodiest strike, assailants boarded a ferry off the northern coast of Sri Lanka, near Jaffna, and hacked 39 Tamils to death with axes, swords and knives. The Sri Lankan navy has denied accusations that it was involved in the slaughter; the same day, police surprised Tamil rebels hiding in a cave in the Eastern province and killed 20 guerrillas...
...government, which has received advice on antiguerrilla operations from Israeli intelligence experts, claims not to be intimidated by the Tigers' growing strength. "These terrorists say that their ultimate goal is to take on the Sri Lankan army, face to face, in conventional infantry warfare," says Athulathmudali. "How I wish they would. I am ready. The army is ready." That sentiment is not echoed by all Sri Lankan officers. "We do not have enough troops," says Brigadier Hamilton Wanasinghe, the military commander for the Jaffna peninsula. "We are building our strength, but it will take time...
...confrontation with the army. Should the guerrillas effectively seize control of the north of the island, Jayawardene might be forced to step down in favor of a government more sympathetic to Tamil grievances. "The initiative now lies with the forces of violence," says a Sri Lankan colonel. "We would be stupid not to admit that they have the strength to do what they want." But Western analysts also suspect that if the Tigers, whose politics range from Marxism to Tamil nationalism, do manage to triumph, they may find themselves unable to remain united, let alone administer their newly won territory...