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Sri Lanka pays high price for endless war
August 28, 1996
Web posted at: 8:00 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT)From Correspondent Anita Pratap
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- At least 11 more people have been killed in fighting between the Sri Lankan military and Tamil rebels, the military said Wednesday. Eight rebels and three soldiers died Tuesday in the Tamil minority's fight for a state independent from the majority Sinhalese.
Although the ethnic conflict between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese is decades old, it turned into a full-fledged separatist war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan Army in 1983, and has dragged on ever since.
Rebels say the Tamils are discriminated against by Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese population. More than 45,000 people have died in the 13-year-old battle.
Waging war has proven expensive for Sri Lanka, not only in lives, but from an economic standpoint as well. In two years, the price of bread has risen to six rupees, seven U.S. cents a loaf -- a 75 percent increase that the average Sri Lankan finds too steep.
The country's leader, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, pledged to end the conflict when she took office in 1994. She also promised bread at affordable prices.
All her efforts have come to naught. The military recently renewed its offensive against Tamil separatists in the northeast. And as military spending surges, Kumaratunga has found she cannot have her bread and eat it too. It isn't possible to wage a war and keep the prices down.
"The cost of living is almost unbearable now. It's rising. There is a limit, I suppose, to the patience of the people," said Sinha Ratnatunga, editor of the Sunday Times.
Sri Lanka's defense spending, which is about $1 billion for 1996, represents more than 35 percent of the nation's annual budget. As war costs rise, $500 million in yearly food subsidies have to be cut. The economy is under pressure: the stock market is falling, overseas investment is down, and labor unrest and unemployment are growing.
If the Sinhalese are unhappy, Sri Lanka's Tamils are even more so. Recent army attacks have displaced 200,000 Tamils in the north. Many Tamils have fled into the jungles, and a few have even gone to neighboring India. Wherever they are, the refugees face enormous hardships. Medicines and food are in short supply, because trucks cannot travel easily to the war zone.
Critics say Kumaratunga's proposed peace package, seeking to devolve powers to the Tamil minority, is not making progress, and Sri Lankans are divided as to what should be done next.
"It has to be a concerted military effort by the army," the Sunday Times editor insisted.
But Harry Goonetileke, a retired Sri Lankan Air Force chief, disagreed. "I would say negotiate," he said.
Talks between the government and the Tigers are deadlocked. The way things are, the sun is not likely to set on this war anytime soon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Sri Lanka lifts blockade of food for refugees - August 12
- Sri Lanka tightens siege on rebel stronghold - August 10
- Sri Lankan warplanes, artillery pound Tamil rebels - August 8
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