Colombo - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday officially announced the end of the more than 25-year civil war against Tamil rebels as the army's commander said the body of guerilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been positively identified.
A file picture dated 31 October 2008, shows Tamil rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 19 May officially announced the end of the more than 25-year civil war against Tamil rebels as the army's commander said the body of rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has been positively's official announcement came hours after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) claimed its rebel leader was still alive. EPA/CAN MEREY
General Sarath Fonseka's official announcement came hours after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) claimed its rebel leader was still alive.
Television footage showed what was said to be the body of Prabhakaran, which appeared to be intact and his face identifiable. A single injury to his head was visible.
He was dressed in military camouflage, his usual attire, and was reported have a tag bearing the number 001, indicating his membership number in the LTTE.
Rajapaksa said in a speech to Parliament that he was addressing the nation after victory in the war against the separatist group but made no specific mention of Prabhakaran.
'Today, we have been able to liberate the whole country from LTTE terrorism,' he said. 'We have been able to defeat one of the most heinous terrorist groups in the world.'
Rajapaksa said he did not believe the war was the final solution to the ethnic conflict with the minority Tamils and said his task would be to offer a political settlement that would be acceptable for all communities.
The president stressed that the end of the war against the LTTE was not a defeat of the Tamil community and pledged that 'to protect all people, including Tamil-speaking people, is my duty and responsibility.'
'I am calling on all Tamils who left the country to return to the country,' Rajapaska said, rejecting the idea that there were ethnic tensions between the island nation's majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils. 'There are no minority communities in the country.'
Rajapaksa vowed to resettle the estimated 250,000 people displaced in the recent fighting in the north-east in their home villages under better living conditions. The region has hardly seen any development in the past three decades.
The Tamil Tigers earlier said they 'categorically rejected' government claims that their commander had been killed.
'Our beloved leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe,' LTTE spokesman S Pathmanathan said in a statement released on the pro-rebel tamilnet.com website.
'He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people,' it said.
State television had reported Monday that Prabhakaran had been killed while fleeing in an ambulance from the final battlefield with the military, but military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said Tuesday that his body was found in a different location.
The LTTE, which had been fighting for an independent homeland for Tamils, accused the Sri Lankan army of 'crimes against humanity,' saying two other senior leaders were shot and killed by the army's 58th Division when they approached for talks about an 'orderly end of the war,' the tamilnet.com statement said.
It alleged the army killed P Nadesan, the LTTE's political division head, and S Pulidevan, the head of the Tamil Tigers' peace secretariat while they were unarmed and carrying white flags.
Elsewhere, people set off firecrackers in flag-bedecked streets in celebration as Rajapaksa spoke. Parades, street celebrations and religious functions were among the events held to mark the victory. Wednesday was declared a national holiday.
A government statement appealed to the public to fly the national flag on all houses and institutions 'as a mark of victory achieved by security forces in defeating terrorism and as a tribute to heroic soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation.'
More than 80,000 people died in the conflict, and many thousands more were maimed and wounded. Both the government and LTTE were accused of atrocities and human rights abuses.
The government had vowed in January last year that it would defeat the LTTE militarily. Its military advances after that announcement had confined the LTTE by this year to an ever-shrinking patch of land in the north-east.
Military operations against the rebels were halted at midday Monday after the army said as many as 18 of most senior LTTE leaders had been killed.
As many as 250 rebels were killed in the final confrontation at Vellamulliavaikkal, 395 kilometres north-east of Colombo.
With the end of the conflict, the focus shifted to the 250,000 civilians who fled the rebel-held area and now live in government camps in the Northern Province.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was due Friday in Sri Lanka to assess its humanitarian needs.
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