Article
from
The Boston Globe
Sri Lanka is like Chechnya. Not the climate or the terrain, but the nature of civil war. In both, a determined, fanatical, comparatively few guerrilla fighters hold off and sometimes outwit a much larger military juggernaut. In both, the rules of war are regularly breached and civilians suffer.
Two new elements in the 16-year-old war between the Sinhala- dominated central government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are the Tigers' unexpected multiple victories this month across the northern part of the island and an early election scheduled for December by President Chandrika Kumaratunga of the ruling Peoples' Alliance.
Kumaratunga seeks a strong mandate for peace, which means winning seats in parliament from the United National Party, a rival for Sinhalese votes. Despite a striking parliamentary victory in the 1994 elections, again after calling for peaceful settlement with the LTTE, Kumaratunga has been unable to give minority Tamils the regional autonomy they have long sought. United Party parliamentary votes have blocked the two-thirds required for constitutional change. But as she campaigns this month, the LTTE, representing militant Tamil aspirations, has routed the army in successive attacks.
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