November 23, 1995
Web posted at: 10:20 p.m. EST (0320 GMT)
From Correspondent Jackie Shymanski and news service reports
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Thursday urged Tamil separatists to resume negotiations to end the 12-year-old war after army forces surrounded the rebel base of Jaffna city.
"We must negotiate a lasting political solution," Kumaratunga said on state radio. "Then, and only then, can we ensure a lasting peace for us and our children."
Fearing violence against minority Tamils, Kumaratunga appealed for calm, stressing that the army was fighting "ruthless terrorists" and not the island's minorities.
Soldiers and police were deployed on the streets of Colombo to deter communal violence and rebel reprisal attacks as the army reportedly sealed Jaffna town, in a crucial phase of their largest offensive against the separatists yet.
When the Sri Lankan army launched the offensive last month, its goal was to end a 12-year-old war and staunch the bloodshed that has caused more than 50,000 people to die.
The government's assault targeted the island city of Jaffna, the ancestral home of the Tamil people. The government believed that Jaffna's fall would force the guerrillas, or the Tamil Tigers, as they are known, to surrender.
"The fall of Jaffna is the fall of their so-called capital," said Sri Lankan government spokesperson Edmond Jayasinge. "It's a severe psychological blow." (120K AIFF sound or 120K WAV sound)
Instead of backing down as expected, the Tigers have dug in their claws, vowing to fight for a separate homeland from areas of the island still under their control. So far, officials said, more than 1,900 rebels and soldiers have died in this latest attack.
Banded under the name Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebel group comprising men, women and children is one the world's longest-surviving guerrilla forces. In their ruthless and bloody fight for an independent homeland in Sri Lanka, thousands have perished.
The rebel group's single-minded goal and determined approach has won them sympathizers. Some admire their willingness to die for the cause. Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is believed to have been assassinated by a Tiger suicide bomber.
Sivagnanam Karikalan, a member of the group, said men and women volunteer to be suicide bombers. "The suicide squad dares to put on the equipment and enter the den of the enemy, destroying them and themselves," he said.
Local legend has it that all rebels, including Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, wear a cyanide capsule on a string around their neck at all times, signaling their readiness to die if captured.
The Tigers claim discrimination against minority Tamils forced them to adopt guns and violence. They held that they were denied jobs and schooling by the Sinhalese majority.
Officials, on the other hand, contend that the guerrillas have terrorized locals into submission.
Siva Sidambaram of the Tamil United Liberation Front supports the Tigers. "They have given protection to Tamil people from the excesses of the army, police and law enforcing bodies," he said. "To that extent, they are looked upon as people who have given protection."
Support for the Tamil Tigers comes from Tamils abroad, and money for weapons flows from such countries as Canada, Britain, and even the United States.
President Kumaratunga sailed to power in August 1994 on the promise that she would negotiate an end to the war. Talks between the Tamil rebels and the government began in October of that year, but broke down three months later.
A rebel offensive in April shattered a tenuous truce, and the government then vowed to crush the rebellion militarily.
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