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Sri Lanka on arms buying spree to tackle Tamil rebels |
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May 1, 2000 COLOMBO, APR 30 (AP) - Sri Lanka is buying long-range artillery and assorted military hardware from international arms suppliers to stop a Tamil Tiger offensive to retake their former capital Jaffna, sources close to the military said Sunday.
Earlier this week, Sri Lankan military officials met with arms dealers from Russia, Britain, Pakistan, Iran, the Czech Republic, Israel and Singapore in Colombo.
Details of the arms purchases were not immediately known, but a source close to the military said long-range artillery dominates the shopping list. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
The rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam want this small island country off India's southern tip to be divided into Tamil and Sinhalese homelands. They want Jaffna to be the capital and are now knocking at its doors.
The orders were placed to stop a rebel threat to retake Jaffna. Both sides rely heavily on artillery, and the rebels had outsmarted the military this month by using better artillery during their successful assault on the Elephant Pass base, the gateway to Jaffna.
The rebels were trying Sunday to head closer to the city. But government troops have so far managed to check the advance of the guerrillas.
Jaffna is 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the capital, Colombo.
Ten thousand soldiers withdrew from the causeway last week in one of the government's most humiliating defeats.
The military said 214 soldiers died while defending Elephant Pass and their troops killed 150 rebels. The Tamil Tiger internet web site said more than 1,000 soldiers had been killed.
The guerrillas have vowed to recapture Jaffna, a city of 500,000 people that is the center of Tamil culture. It fell to the military in December 1995.
After the Elephant Pass debacle, military strategists advised President Chandrika Kumaratunga that it would be difficult to contain the rebels until the military's fire power was increased.
Last September, Sri Lanka invited foreign and local companies to register for the supply of laser-guided bombs, electronic warfare systems, mine sweepers and a wide range of other military equipment.
On an average, Sri Lanka has been spending one-third of its revenue fighting the rebels who say they need a homeland as their ethnic minority group is discriminated in Sinhalese majority country.
The defense budget for this year is estimated at 53 billion rupees (dlrs 726 million.)
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