Word: rajapaksas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That left Prabhakaran with control of the north, secured by several thousand soldiers. But the transformation from running a guerrilla force to a conventional army may have been the leader's undoing. The nation's current President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, took office in 2005 and vowed to pursue a military solution. In a conventional war against an army many times its size, the LTTE was sure to be outmatched, and eventually it was. Prabhakaran never again appeared before the press after 2002, but he continued to release photos and speeches every year. "With its greed for land, Sinhalam [Sri Lanka...
...Prabhakaran was correct. The LTTE had been banned by the U.S., the European Union and several other countries as a terrorist organization, and Rajapaksa pursued what he called a "war on terror" against the LTTE despite the repeated concerns of the U.N. and other groups about human-rights violations and civilian casualties inflicted by both sides. More than 220,000 Tamil civilians are still being held in the north in internment camps, and it is not clear when they will be allowed to go home. The U.N. estimates that 40,000 to 60,000 people are en route...
...Tigers were cornered into the narrow patch on Sunday after President Mahinda Rajapaksa had announced the day before that the Tigers were a spent force. "We are not after any person or any personal agenda. We want to rid this country of terrorism; that is why we went after the LTTE leadership," Lakshman Hulugalle, director-general of the Defense Ministry's Media Centre for National Security told TIME. "With the leadership wiped out, this organization cannot re-emerge." Army Commander Lieutenant Sareth Fonseka also said that Prabhakaran's death marked the end of the LTTE-led separatist war. "We have...
...morning hours, including Prabhakaran's 24-year-old son Charles Anthony. All of the leaders, including Prabhakaran, appeared to be fleeing in the same two-vehicle convoy. The entire country had been decked in the Sri Lankan national flag since Sunday, anticipating the final victory over the Tigers. President Rajapaksa is due to address the nation from parliament on Tuesday...
...Lankan government has been more welcoming of delegations from sympathetic countries, such as India, South Asia's regional superpower, and Japan, Sri Lanka's largest donor country. Neither has tried to exert similar public pressure. The Indian foreign secretary, Shivshankar Menon, met with Rajapaksa on April 24; three days later the Army announced that "combat operations have reached their conclusion," a declaration that was quickly clarified - it meant the Army would cease only heavy bombardment. On April 30, the Times of London reported that the U.S. and Britain were trying to use Sri Lanka's application for a $1.9 billion...