On Tuesday, April 7, 2009, the Guardian posted an article about Sri Lanka's government denying the United Nations' call for a ceasefire in the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The government declined the United Nations' request because they said they would not let the opposition leaders escape. The fight between the government and the LTTE has lasted 25 years and taken over 70,000 lives.
Sri Lankan military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara warned that even if the military conquers the LTTE, it would take years to "finish off the sleeper cells," making the end unforeseeable. The military also commented on their priority of eradicating terrorism from the country.
Walter Kaelin, representative of U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon, said that the army's interference with the LTTE's civilians would cause a human "bloodbath", and that "this must by all means be avoided."
This article posed initially because of my curiosity in international relations, specifically in relations among nations in eastern Asia.
I also gave this article attention because of my love for 33-year-old musical artist Maya Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A.. Maya's father, Arular Arulpragasam, was a founder of LTTE, and Maya spent the first years of her life hiding from the Sri Lankan government. Her music holds a reflection of the terrorist opposition in Sri Lanka.
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