COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government yesterday offered an amnesty to Tamil Tiger rebels who surrender, but rejected international appeals for cease-fire talks and vowed to crush those who fight on. The conditional amnesty was offered as Sri Lankan forces captured the insurgents’ biggest sea base yesterday — cutting off their main supply point in the latest in a string of military victories that has squeezed the Tamil Tigers into an 85-sq km sliver of coastal land.
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told Parliament that some rebels were ready to lay down their arms as they face imminent defeat in their decades-long battle for an independent ethnic Tamil homeland. “It is a wise decision and we are ready to welcome them,” Wickremanayake said.
The government at the same time rejected international calls for negotiations to end the fighting, which has triggered global concern for the tens of thousands of civilians caught up in war.
“Nothing short of unconditional surrender of arms and cadres could bring an end to the offensive,” Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said troops overran the insurgents’ sea base in Chalai. He said the rebels still retain some capability to launch naval suicide missions from small bases along the coast. But for now, the rebels are fighting a last-gasp battle for survival, bearing the brunt of a daily barrage of artillery.
The seizure cuts off their main supply point as Chalai was used to receive arms and fuel from other countries through a widespread smuggling network.
