Sri Lanka leader extends olive branch

SRI LANKA’S president declared his country “liberated from separatist terror” as state television broadcast images of the Tamil Tiger rebel leader’s body after it was recovered from the battlefield.

But in his victory address to parliament, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared to reach out to the minority Tamils, for whom the rebels had said they were trying to carve out a homeland. He also alluded to promises to forge a power-sharing agreement with them.

“Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the (rebels). We all must now live as equals in this free country,” he said, briefly speaking in the Tamil language.

Meanwhile, TV footage showed a bloated body resembling the rebel leader, still dressed in a dark green camouflage uniform, laid out on a stretcher on the grass. A blue cloth rested on top of his head, apparently to cover a bullet wound. His open eyes stared straight up.

“A few hours ago, the body of terrorist leader (Velupillai) Prabhakaran, who ruined this country, was found on the battleground,” army chief General Sarath Fonseka told state television.

Prabhakaran’s body was later identified by Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, a former rebel commander known as Colonel Karuna, who defected from the group and is now a government minister, the government said in a statement.

Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said the government might conduct a DNA test as well. He declined to reveal what the plans were for the disposal of the body.

The death of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the unquestioned leader of the Tamil Tigers, would make it far more difficult for the rebel movement to re-form and continue its nearly three decade separatist war.

Speaking before the announcement, a rebel official abroad denied Prabhakaran was killed and said the Tamil Tiger leader was in a safe place.

With the war on the northern battlefields over, Rajapaksa delivered a victory address to parliament early yesterday.

Rajapaksa said that for the first time in 30 years the country was unified under its elected government.

“Our motherland has been completely liberated from separatist terrorism,” he said, declaring today a national holiday.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he was relieved the war appears over in Sri Lanka, but said he wants the government to address the “concerns and aspirations” of its minority Tamil population.