Finally ending another war

The Times reports, in an article by Jeremy Page, on the end (maybe) of the war in Ceylon:

The Sri Lanka army has given the Tamil Tigers twenty-four hours to surrender after claiming to have freed about a third of the estimated 100,000 civilians trapped in the northeastern “no-fire zone” with the last remnants of the rebels. An army spokesman said that more than 30,000 civilians fled the 6.5 square mile safety zone after troops breached one of the Tiger’s main defence lines— a 1.9 mile mound of earth that was blocking the route to government territory— early this morning. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan President, said that the Tigers were now facing complete defeat in a civil war that has lasted 26 years and claimed more than 70,000 lives. “The people are defying the rebels and escaping. They are running to safety," he said. “It is now all over for the Tigers."
Mr. Rajapaksa also said that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the reclusive Tiger leader who is believed to be still leading his forces from inside the zone, should be captured alive so that he could face justice. "The only thing Prabhakaran can now do is to surrender,” he said. "I don't want him to take cyanide and commit suicide. He has to face charges for his actions." The Tigers, who have been fighting for an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils since 1983, are notorious for carrying cyanide capsules around their necks to be taken if they are captured.
Keheliya Rambukwella, a defence department spokesman, said that the army had given the Tigers a final warning to surrender within twenty-four hours from noon today or face military action. "That is the best option," he said.
It was impossible to verify the Government’s claims as it has barred most independent reporters and aid workers from visiting the frontline: The Times has been denied a journalist’s visa since August and its reporter was deported the week before last after trying to enter the country on a tourist visa. However Western diplomats and analysts based in Colombo, the capital, said that the Army did appear to be poised to defeat the Tigers, at least as a conventional military force.
After a two-year military campaign, the last two hundred core Tiger fighters are now pinned down in the safety zone, but the big question is how the army will protect the estimated remaining 70,000 civilians, who have come under fire repeatedly from both sides in what UN officials and human rights groups say could constitute war crimes.
Sri Lanka’s government has come under intense international pressure, led by the United States and Britain, to suspend its military operations so that the civilians, many of whom are seriously injured, can leave the area. The Army opened a 48-hour window early last week, but has refused to extend it, accusing the Tigers of using the civilians as human shields, and of shooting any who try to escape to government territory. The Tigers are banned as a terrorist organisation in the EU, the United States and India.
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said that a Tiger suicide bomber killed at least seventeen civilians this morning as they were trying to flee the area. The Defence Ministry's official website said women and children were among the dead. Meanwhile, about 2,500 British Tamils and their supporters staged another protest in London, blocking streets outside the Houses of Parliament to demand an immediate ceasefire.

Rico says, yes, yes, he knows they call it Sri Lanka, but he doesn't...