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Sri Lankans celebrate end of conflict • Victory over Tamil Tigers raises hopes for unity • Body of rebel leader paraded on state television Gethin Chamberlain in Colombo 19 May 2009 Waving flags and amid the deafening din of exploding firecrackers, Sri Lankans poured on to the streets of the capital, Colombo, today to celebrate what many believed was the end of the nearly three-decade war against the Tamil Tigers. As state television broadcast pictures of the body of the Tigers' chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and the victorious president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, declared the country "liberated" from terrorism, those who had known nothing but war had no doubt that however it had been achieved, it was a victory worth having. Fazim Raufdeen was not even born when the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam started, but the 23-year-old Muslim was outside his office, in shirt and tie, brandishing a large national flag above his head. "This has come from inside, from our hearts," he said. "As a Sri Lankan, we never thought we would win this war, no one thought this war would one day be finished. But today, as a Muslim and as a Sri Lankan, I am really proud to say that we are now one nation together." Raufdeen had good reason to celebrate: last year, he said, eight of his former schoolmates from DS Senanayake college were killed by an LTTE bomb at the Fort railway station. He went to the hospital to see the bodies. "This was a good war," he said. "This is the first country that totally took on the terrorists. It is an example to the world." Around the city, there were similar scenes of spontaneous celebration. Flags were taped to car wing mirrors, convoys weaving through the traffic, pillion passengers on motorbikes clutching flags that streamed out behind them. Yet despite the celebrations, Colombo today did not feel like a city to which peace had finally come. The soldiers had not started to relax: instead, the security presence remained claustrophobic, with checkpoints dotting the city and heavily armed men patrolling the streets. The LTTE has been defeated on the battlefield, but the government was showing no signs of complacency. And although there were reports of some Tamils celebrating, in the Tamil-dominated Wellawatta area, there was a feeling of subdued resentment at the scale of the festivities. True, there were posters of the president on display and Sri Lankan flags fluttering everywhere, but this was a part of the population which was smiling only through gritted teeth. "I'm happy that the war is finished," one shopkeeper said, looking awkward, "but I can't talk to you about my feelings. We can't say anything. It is not safe." He gestured outside, to a passing patrol of soldiers. "The Sinhalese are celebrating but not us," another shopkeeper said. "They are happy and we can see that they are happy. Let them have their day." Those who would talk did so with an air of resignation. The remainder just shook their heads apologetically. "We can't say anything. What can we say," another shopkeeper said, as a car packed with cheering Sinhalese drove past, flags waving, the sound of cheering coming from the open windows. On state television, pictures of Prabhakaran's body, lying on a stretcher, played over and over again. A pair of hands lifted his large head, with its distinctive bushy moustache, turning it this way and that, his eyes wide open. A large wound could be seen above his left eye, the top of his head covered in a blue and white cloth. The camera showed other hands displaying an identity card, apparently that of the vanquished leader. Only a couple of hours earlier, the voice of his nemesis, Rajapaksa, was booming out of television and radio sets across the capital, proclaiming the war over, victory secured. He didn't even bother to mention Prabhakaran by name: this was a victory speech and one he was clearly relishing. For the first time in almost 30 years, the country was unified under its elected government, he told parliament. He could even find time to be magnanimous in victory. "Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this free country," he said. "We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict. That solution should be acceptable to all the communities. We have to find a solution based on the philosophy of Buddhism." Somewhere to the north, behind the rolls of razor wire that ring the internment camps and in conditions that even government officials admit are "difficult", a quarter of a million people driven from their homes by the recent fighting can only have hoped that he meant what he said.
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Related links
Tamil children as young as 11 were forced at gunpoint to fight for the Tigers in Sri Lanka's civil war. Survivors talked of their ordeal to Gethin Chamberlain in Ambepusse
In squalid internment camps, the fight for survival goes on amid reports of 15,000 killed The first accounts of the suffering of civilians during the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka began to emerge from the camps where as many as a quarter of a million Tamils are being held behind barbed wire. Makeshift Sri Lanka hospital is shelled, taking 47 lives At least 47 people were killed today and more than 50 injured when a shell struck the last hospital inside the so-called no-fire zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka, where casualties of the country's brutal civil war are being treated. 'Two of us fled. 75 other women killed themselves with grenades' 12 Apr 2009: The harrowing stories of captured female fighters who chose to surrender rather than carry out suicide orders At least 128 reported dead in Sri Lanka's 'no-fire zone' 11 Apr 2009: Military announce that operations to free tens of thousands of trapped civilians have entered final stage Sri Lanka rejects UN call for ceasefire in war against Tamil Tigers 7 Apr 2009: Government says it is determined to crush rebel leaders, despite mounting anger over civilians trapped in conflict zone
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