Sri Lanka - interview

LTTE air attacks response to government victories in north, claims minister

by Tony  Cross

Article published on the 2008-10-29 Latest update 2008-11-01 09:43 TU

Hussein Bhaila in Paris
(Photo: Tony Cross)

Air attacks on Tuesday in Sri Lanka are "a last ditch effort" by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Hussein Bhaila said on Wednesday. Speaking to RFI on a visit to Paris Bhaila said the LTTE said they want to show they have the capacity to keep fighting, He says that the army is about one and a half kilometres from the separatist group's base of Kilinochchi.

Sri Lanka's army claims to have made major progress in an anti-LTTE offensive in the north over the last few weeks.

"We have now captured most of their strongholds in the north," says Bhaila.

But the military has claimed that it is close to capturing Kilonochchi for some time. The minister claims that humanitarian concerns are responsible for the delay.

"That was to allow the civilian population of Kilinochchi to leave for safer ground," he says, adding that the government has a "zero tolerance policy on civilian casualties".

He accuses the LTTE of using civilians as human shields, although other pro-government sources point out that the movement is reluctant to alienate the local population, in case it has to return to guerrilla tactics and needs popular support.

Pressure from ethnic Tamil parties in the Delhi coalition government and reports of up to 230,000 displaced civilians recently prompted India to break its diplomatic silence on the conflict.

Basil Rajapakse, a top aide to President Mahinda Rajapakse, travelled to Delhi on Sunday to reassure Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the question.

Bhaila says that "we are doing our utmost on the humanitarian ground", including sending about 1,000 tonnes of food and medical supplies to conflict-hit areas. The government believes that some supplies may end up with the LTTE.

"When we send these foods across, I think we may be the only government in the world which is feeding the people who are fighting them," he jokes.

Indian Tamils have also called for more efforts towards a political solution to the war, which has now lasted 36 years. The government pulled out of peace talks in January this year, claiming that the LTTE was not negotiating seriously.

Bhaila promises that elections will be held in the north, if the rebels are defeated, as has been the case in the east, which fell under government control following the defection of an LTTE faction.

“The same thing we want to do in the north, have elections, hand over power to the people so that it’ll be the Tamil people, who are in the majority in the north, who will decide their future," he says.

As a member of a faction of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, he also hopes that about 100,000 Muslims will be able to return. They were expelled from the north 19 years ago because the LTTE feared that they would back Colombo against the call for a Tamil homeland.

"Still they are living in refugee camps," Bhaila says. "But they want to go to the north. But they are not able to go because of this terrorist problem that is there and we are eagerly awaiting the day when the forces will be able to clear the north, when the Muslims will be able to go back."

Asked whether that could not be a source of more communal friction in the future, he again argued that a successful example has been set in the east. 

"In the east there have been discussions between the Tamils and the Muslims and there have been agreements by which the Muslims have now allowed to cultivate some of the lands that have been lost," the Minister says, adding that development in the formerly war-torn region is now the envy of other Sri Lankans.