COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s president declared his country “liberated from separatist terror” yesterday as state television broadcast images of the Tamil Tiger rebel leader’s body after it was recovered from the battlefield.
But in his victory address to Parliament, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared to reach out to the minority Tamils, for whom the rebels had said they were trying to carve out a homeland. He also alluded to promises to forge a power-sharing agreement with them.
“Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip (of the rebels). We all must now live as equals in this free country,” he said, briefly speaking in the Tamil language.
Rajapaksa pledged to protect the rights of Tamils. “It is necessary that the political solutions they need should be brought to them,” he said. “However, it cannot be an imported solution ... it is necessary that we find a solution that is our very own, of our own nation.” He pledged rapid resettlement of the more than 250,000 Tamils now in refugee camps and urged international investors to come to Sri Lanka and invest in its rebuilding.
“A few hours ago, the body of terrorist leader (Vellupillai) Prabhakaran was found on the battleground,” army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka told state television. TV footage showed the bloated body of the rebel leader with head covered to conceal a gaping wound.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for national reconciliation and said he would visit the country this week for a first-hand look at refugee camps.
