By Amantha Perera

It survived for 2140 days - from February 22, 2002 until January 2, 2008. It lived through two executive presidents, three prime ministers, and three opposition leaders (UNP's Ranil Wickremesinghe holding the post twice).

The government's decision to pull the plug on the 2002 CFA was formally announced on the night of January 2, but all indictors were pointing towards a pullout well before the new year made its bloody entry.

Government top rankers were not mincing their words - "One or two more attacks, we have no option," President Mahinda Rajapakse told reporters at a Christmas party held at his residence. "There is a limit to our patience," he said on the possibility of proscribing the Tigers. The proscription was lifted as a forerunner to the CFA in 2002.

His comments came soon after Colombo was rocked by two attacks on one day on November 28, when a suicide attack on Minister Douglas Devananda was followed by parcel bomb at Nugegoda.

Proposal tabled

Over the New Year weekend Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse repeated the same thinking and when Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake presented the proposal to pull out of the truce at the January 2 cabinet meeting, he was merely formalising the writing already on the wall.

The new year was one of the bloodiest in the last eight years, and a call by the Catholic clergy for a ceasefire during Christmas was summarily ignored.

Fighting continued along the northern defences and the casualty figures, albeit contested by both sides, were nevertheless high.

Since early last year government troops have been foraying into Tiger controlled areas along the Vavuniya-Mannar FDL that originally ran from Adampan, Periyathampanai to Omanthai on a west to east axis. Confrontations increased after the fall of Toppigala mid last year and the thrust points have also increased. The initial forays were directed near the Periyathampanai area east of the Madhu sanctuary, while clashes were also reported at Irani Illuppaikulam and Pookaravani towards the east, and closer to Omanthai.

Unlike in the east, where battalions thrust into Tiger held areas along main supply roads and on their sides, and held areas that came under their control, in the north, the emphasis has been on draining the Tiger strengths with sustained attacks, mostly carried out by small units though on several occasions hundreds of troops have been engaged in attacks.

Advances

As the year wore on, government forces were moving on the Tigers at different thrust points - Adampan in the Kokillai sector north east of Weli Oya and also along the Muhamalai axis.

Tiger forward lines southwest of Madhu also came under attack as last year moved to a close. Clashes were reported on the eastern bund of Giant Tank and thereafter at Uliyankulam, and then moved to Adampan area north of Giant Tank.

Heavy fighting in the area closed the Uliyankulam entry/ exit point on September 3, when the ICRC pulled out staff due to security fears. It has remained closed since and government forces have in fact moved forward from their positions at Uliyankulam.

A fortnight back they said that the Tiger positions at Uliyankulam have come under their control. They have moved to areas further into Tiger held areas in the ensuing days and now according to the Defence Ministry are in control of Adampan, Narikulam and Palakuli along the Uliyankulam-Adampan road.

Early morning on December 29 (around 6.15), government troops once again commenced their latest foray into Tiger held areas east of Uliyankulam. They were moving northeast towards Parapankandal. As has been the case in the last 12 months along this line of control, the advance was slow and met with stiff resistance.

Tiger artillery guns stationed five to 10 km north of the FDLs opened on the advancing troops. The Tigers have stationed 130 mm and 120 mm guns at locations like Pallamoddai, that lies about 15 km northwest of Vavuniya. The Tiger fire was met with similar barrages from government gun positions and heavy battles ensued.

"Bhanu, Laxman, Parthivan, Susilan and Adavan Master were identified to have led LTTE terrorists during the heavy fighting today, ground sources further revealed," the Defence Ministry said of the December 29 fighting.

As fighting raged on, both sides reported inflicting heavy casualties on each other. The Defence Ministry said that over 25 Tigers were killed in the Parapankandal clashes between December 29 and 30. Among the Tiger dead was Adavan, an area leader.

It said that troops were able to advance 800 metres into Tiger held areas and take control of one square km.

The Tigers however said that they had beaten back the thrust and they only lost three cadres. Military losses were put above two dozen by the Tigers.

Intense fighting

There was however no let down in the fighting as reports by both parties indicated - "Heavy clashes erupted between the army and the LTTE as the terrorists fired mortars at troops deployed in the Parapakandal area around 1p.m. yesterday (December 30). One army officer was killed and four others sustained injuries in incident. Troops responding to the attack moved ahead of their defences and attacked a group of LTTE cadres killing at least five terrorists around 6.30p. m. Elsewhere, in the Parapakandal area, troops pulled down a LTTE bunker around 7 the same evening. Ground troops have claimed that at least 10 terrorists were killed in the incident," the Ministry said.

Clashes were reported in the area in the following days as well. On January 3 around 5.30 in the morning government troops once again moved north of their positions at Palaikuli that lies north of Uliyankulam and northwest of Parapakandal. Details of the fighting remained sketchy but both sides said that the confrontation was intense and lasted well into mid-morning.

Government troops were able to destroy six Tiger bunkers and kill at least six Tigers, the Defence Ministry said.

The Tigers however said that they had thwarted the military advance that was backed by multi-barrel and artillery fire. They said that the fighting lasted till 11.30 and ten soldiers were killed and over 15 injured.

Residents in Mannar island and travelling on the main road said that heavy artillery fire could be heard throughout last week.

Smaller confrontations

While the main clashes last week were in the Parapakandal area, smaller confrontations were reported in Killai, south of Jaffna, in areas north of Vavuniya and in the Weli Oya sector as well.

Tigers said that heavy clashes had erupted between their cadres and government troops at Muhamalai around 3 p.m. on January 2. In the morning, clashes were reported at Kilali, west of Muhamalai and the Tigers said four soldiers were killed when troops tried to move forward. There was a heavy build up along Muhamalai last week by both sides.

With the ceasefire that had been long relegated to a paper document finally annulled, the cycle that began on December of 2005 has come full circle. It was two years ago, just two weeks after Rajapakse assumed office that the slide began when two pro-Tiger activists were killed in Jaffna on December 1. Claymore attacks on the military convoys followed on December 4 and 6 killing 14 soldiers, and the rest is history.

Disintegrated

As the ceasefire disintegrated into irrelevance, the truce monitors found themselves more and more restricted. First the Tiger demand that all nationals from European Union nations be pulled out of the SLMM by September 2006, reduced the numbers drastically. From an original 60, it's present strength is 37, and 30 of them are from Norway.

In November they said that they had effectively given up monitoring, "Due to the current level of conflict the SLMM focuses on major incidents and trends related to restoration of normalcy and military operations."

The demise of the SLMM was swift and curt. "The SLMM will terminate its current operational activities in Sri Lanka effective January 16, at 1900 hrs," the monitors said.

After January 3, SLMM had ceased patrolling but were still receiving complaints, according to spokesperson Pia Hanssen.

The slow but sure demise of the SLMM was matched by a counter movement, the gradual build up along the FDLs. While the battles raged on in the east, SLMM was initially able to monitor and gain access to areas albeit with delays and increasing difficulty. That has changed in the north.

The northern frontlines are sparsely populated and even those civilians remaining close to them have moved out, thus making it easier to restrict outside access.

The Tigers have moved fighting formations into the areas along the Vavuniya-Mannar axis and have also bolstered the Muhamalai line that they have twice held in the face of army incursions since August 2006. They also attacked the front once, on August 11, 2006.

Elite Tiger fighting units like the Charles Anthony unit have been placed behind the main lines and experienced battle hardened seniors are also in the area. The government's military has reported that the Tiger frontline bunkers have been defended by female cadres drawn from the Malathi Brigade, named after the first female Tiger cadre - Sahayaseeli Pedrupillai alias Malathi who was killed fighting the IPKF at Koppai, Jaffna on October 27, 1987.

'Freedom Birds'

It was however not until 1996 that the female cadres also know as 'Freedom Birds' were formally raised into a separate unit. Its current head Vidusha is reportedly in the Vavuniya-Mannar battle line.

Last week when the female Tigers commemorated 12 years, one of its seniors, Yalini, was quoted in pro-Tiger media as saying that thousands of female Tigers are spread out in the Wanni theatre.

Coming out of a year where the Tigers lost heavily in the eastern front losing all its land holdings, the government appears to be confident that it can take the Tigers on in their own den, the Wanni.

Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka last week said that the army had been boosted by new recruits and the raising of new battalions with new equipment.

"The army in the past year turned further strong with the addition of new battalions and recruitment of over 28,000 new soldiers. The latest wing to the army, the Mechanised Infantry Regiment increased the army's fighting capacity manifold. We obtained many armaments that were required and are better equipped," he said addressing the top brass at Army Headquarters on January 1.

The Mechanised Infantry Regiment is expected to play a dominant role in the Wanni terrain where landmines and booby traps can be lethal to ground troops.

Unambiguous

There was no ambiguity in the army's next target - "In the past year, we dedicated ourselves to resist terrorism and defended the unitary status and sovereignty of the motherland. During operations we secured best results and achievements, and liberated the whole of the Eastern Province as a result of historic gun-battles in Mawilaru, Sampur, Vaharai, Kadiraveli, Vavunathivu, Karadiyanaru and Toppigala. Having succeeded in providing leadership to those military victories, the army is triumphantly marching onward from one victory to the other. My sole intention in the new year is to see an end to this fight eliminating terrorists," the Commander said.

In a sign of things to come the Tigers have restricted access to Mullaithivu considerably since early December. UN and other agencies working in the areas were informed by the Tigers that they could not guarantee the safety of the staff anymore and not to be based in the areas.

Agencies who are still conducting work in the areas now travel back and forth to Kilinochchi, like the World Food Programme (WFP) that works in Mullaitivu for three days of the week.

The WFP had conveyed to the Tigers and the government officials in Mullaitivu that if its own officials do not oversee the distribution of food supplies to IDPs, then distribution cannot continue. For a while the supplies were then transported by the Government Agent, Mullaitivu from the WFP stores and lorries in Kilinochchi.