<strong>Alex Amend, Pulitzer Center</strong><br>
Four panelists gathered at The Brookings Institution 11 hours before the Sri Lankan government promised to act on their ultimatum given to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam: surrender or face annihilation.<br>
Currently, the remaining Tamil Tigers are cornered in a "no-fire zone" on eight square miles of coastal area in Mullaitivu. Shut in with the rebels for reasons favorable to either belligerent according to their own is an estimated 35,000 to 100,000 civilians. Negotiations regarding the civilian's fate between the L.T.T.E and the Sri Lankan government along with the international community has only postponed the inevitable. Tuesday at noon, the government says it will restart its offensive.<br>
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<strong>Amin Awad</strong>, a representative of the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/country?iso=lka" target="_blank" title="UNHCR in Sri Lanka info, documents, statistics">UNHCR in Sri Lanka</a>, opened the panel discussion with a brief overview of the UN's commitment on the ground. There are between 150-160 staff members operating out of eight offices throughout the country. Their current concern is for the conditions of the growing number of camps run by the Sri Lankan government to house IDPs, where an average of 3,000 IDPs are checking into 20 centers every day. Food shortages and shortages of non-food items are widespread while reports of mistreatment of IDPs by the SLA are on the rise as the army intensifies their screening process to find rebels among the displaced.<br>
Assistant Secretary for South & Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State, <strong>Michael S. Owen</strong>, spoke of the next 24 hours as being critical.<br>
"We expect very heavy fighting and we're imploring both sides to act on restraint and protect civilians," he said.<br>
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Owen was the first to refer to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/world/asia/21lanka.html" target="_blank" title="NYT">the SLA's break in the rebel's line</a> early Monday where some 30,000 civilians escaped from the fighting in the no-fire zone. This undercuts the rebel's claim that the civilians remain behind the line by their own volition he said. Still, he advocated a peace deal that would involve amnesty for arms among the lower rebel ranks.<br>
Owen also spoke of long term goals for sustainable peace and political reconciliation. Many heads in the audience were nodding in agreement as he reiterated that the ethnic and religious make-up of the country is very diverse and not limited to Sinhalese and Tamil. He emphasized the urgent need for leadership within Sri Lanka and support from without by Japan, the EU and the US. <br>
<strong>Muttukrishna Sarvananthan</strong>, founder of the <a href="https://pointpedro.org/" target="_blank">Point Pedro Institute</a>, spoke of the L.T.T.E's struggle as a struggle of "life and death," and warned against any attempt by the UN to meet with the rebel leadership in person. Sarvananthan also commented on the "hyper-activity" of the diaspora community and its less than productive effects. He emphasized the need to empower the position of the "silent majority" that wants peace but is hostage to extremists.<br>
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"We are past the point of a possible humanitarian ceasefire, it's now a matter of how the attack will take shape."<br>
This is from <strong>Dr. Anna Neistat</strong> of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/20/sri-lanka-protect-civilians-final-attack" target="_blank" title="HRC 4/20/09 statement on Sri Lanka">Human Rights Watch</a>, the most agitated of the panelists and who would eventually have to defend her organization from a polite accusation of bias by a Sri Lankan embassy staffer.<br>
Dr. Neistat criticized the government of Sri Lanka for the severe restrictions set on aid agencies and journalists that prevented desperately needed supplies to reach IDPs and allowed the government to act without accountability. She mentioned the case of <a href="https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6112835.ece" target="_blank">Jeremy Page</a> of the<em> Times of London</em> who was recently deported from Sri Lanka and how local journalists and church groups too are threatened into silence.<br>
Dr. Neistat concluded by crediting lives saved by the US and the UN but said that the commitment thus far is inadequate. What's still needed she said, is a "consistent international message" that the international community will punish "war crimes for both sides."<object height="240" width="460"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1lu5qum9lkI&hl=en&fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="240" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1lu5qum9lkI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="460"></embed></object>