The new operation was begun after Operation Jayasikurui (Certain Victory) - which aimed to open a landroute to Jaffna through Tiger territory - was called off in November in the face of heavy losses. In a two-pronged attack, Sri Lankan troops advanced east from Karipattamurippu and north from Nedunkerni. The advance was accompanied by heavy artillery shelling, but resistance from the LTTE was mild.
Over 15,000 people fled from Oddusuddan seeking refuge in schools and temples in Puthukudyiruppu, 11 miles north. According to Vanni Government Agents (GA) over 9,280 refugees were accommodated in ten schools. Heavy monsoon rains have brought further misery to the fleeing refugees. Two tanks in Kilinochchi overflowed in early December displacing over 250 more families.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that a large number of people have been affected by floods in Mullaitivu District. According to the GAs, around 70% of the currently displaced people had been displaced from other areas earlier. Many now live in the open under trees without food or drinking water.
Further displacement means more problems in the Vanni. The government cut food supplies to the displaced people in the Vanni by 57%, that is from 440,000 recipients to 190,000, from 1 July. Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority N Obadage and Presidential Human Disaster Management Task Force chief David Ratnavel visited Vanni in early December to assess the refugee situation. Reports say that the two officers also met Tiger cadre in LTTE-held areas. There is a major difference between the refugee figures submitted by the Army and the Vanni Government Agents. The Army allege that part of the food sent to refugees is spirited away by the LTTE.
Around 720 people who remained in Oddusuddan were interrogated at the Thanthondreeswarar temple for possible LTTE links and were thereafter sent to refugee camps in Vavuniya, further south. Press reports say women pleaded with the ICRC to ascertain the fate of 600 men missing after the Army capture of the Oddusuddan area. The military took 18 arrested people including several students to Vavuniya camps and 23 to Kalutara, ten miles south of Colombo, for further interrogation.
Five farmers on their way to the fields were shot dead by the Army on Nedunkerni Road in Mullaitivu District on 21 December. Four refugees were injured by Army shells in Katchilaimadu and Ganeshapuram. As shelling continued, cooperative union food stores were forced to shift to areas further north.
Deputy Defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte had a close shave while visiting newly-captured areas in Oddusuddan, accompanied by a group of journalists on 6 December, when the Tigers fired shells on their convoy. The minister, a Deputy Inspector General of Police and three armed force commanders escaped, but five other soldiers were killed and 42 wounded.
Although the new Army chief Srilal Weerasooriya claims that the military is winning the war, former Airforce chief Harry Goonetileke believes that the new operation was launched to save the ruling People’s Alliance in the forthcoming Provincial Council elections. Professional commanders have hardly any voice in the conduct of the war and military decisions are taken by the Deputy Defence minister, Mr Goonetileke says.
According to reports, after the LTTE captured Kilinochchi in September, President Chandrika Kumaratunge has become directly involved in planning military strategy, in her capacity as the constitutional commander-in-chief. Former Army chief Rohan Daluwatte has been appointed to head the newly created Joint Operations Bureau (JOB) for collective military planning.
The Airforce will acquire three Hercules transporter aircrafts from Britain and helicopters from Russia. Colombo’s Sunday Times defence analyst Iqbal Athas says that the government has also placed an order for surface-to-air missiles and other air defence equipment to counter the threat of the Air Tigers.
With such emphasis on the war, hopes of peace initiatives, kindled following the visits of delegations from several countries, including South Africa, are fading. The two major political parties are drifting further apart as evidenced by the violence in the run-up to the Provincial Council elections in the North-West. In the circumstances, the suffering of the civilian population, particularly the refugees in the north-east, is likely to continue.