Women rebels eye role as future army

KILINOCHCHI – A cyanide capsule dangling from her neck and a pistol by her side, the leader of Sri Lanka’s female Tamil Tiger rebels says her 5 000 fighters are clear:civilian life has been and gone — they are a future army.

As families displaced by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s two-decade war for autonomy rebuild villages across the rebel-dominated north, female Tigers are using a two-year ceasefire to hone their military skills and study. “We are the freedom fighters, so we have more work to do after we have reached a permanent (peace),” top female Tiger leader S Thamilini told Reuters in a recent interview at the rebels’ northern stronghold of Kilinochchi.”In other countries, women fighters go back to their normal lives after returning from the battlefield …this will not happen in our country,” she added, referring to swathes of the north and east the rebels consider their homeland of Tamil Eelam.A truce agreed between the rebels and the government in 2002 is helping life gradually return to normal in and around Kilinochchi, as schools, hospitals and homes re-emerge from the rubble in towns all but razed to the ground by shells.The Tigers are allowing minefields along their forward defence lines to be cleared, enabling farmers to return to land they had to abandon long ago.But talks to turn the ceasefire into a lasting peace remain stalled since last year over the rebels’ demands for interim self rule, leaving the Tigers’ armed struggle in limbo.Female cadres, like their male counterparts, spend the impasse training like the soldiers of a regular army, engaging in physical exercise, weapons training and jungle war tactics.EDUCATING THEMSELVESThe women are estimated to account for around a third of the Tigers’ fighters — an overall tally the rebels keep a closely-guarded secret.”During the war period the cadres were in the battlefield,” said Thamilini, dressed in military fatigues, her hair plaited and pinned up in loops in the female Tigers’ distinctive hair-style.”But now in the peace period, the cadres are involved in educating themselves.””They are studying politics, English, computer science, electronics and any other kind of development work that we have to conduct among the people,” she added, a photograph of reclusive rebel leader V.Prabhakaran pinned above the doorway of her colonial-style chalet.Female Tigers joined up because they had no one to depend on once the civil war broke out in 1983.Around 6 000 female Tigers have been killed in fighting since then, of the more than 64 000 people killed during the Tigers’ war for autonomy.”We joined the LTTE to protect ourselves, and also to protect our society,” said Thamilini, who joined the Tigers at the age of 19, against her parents’ wishes.”According to our Tamil culture, the woman are the softness … This war changed us to protect ourselves, by depending on ourselves, not on others.”While the Tigers have a strict rule of discipline, and are not allowed to drink or smoke, male and female fighters alike are allowed to marry and have children.”Our main aim is that our next generation should enjoy the permanent peace that we are fighting for,” Thamilini said, a red rebel flag — emblazoned with a roaring golden tiger and crossed rifles — on her wall.”The next generation should have a war-less society,” she added.- Nampa-Reuters”We are the freedom fighters, so we have more work to do after we have reached a permanent (peace),” top female Tiger leader S Thamilini told Reuters in a recent interview at the rebels’ northern stronghold of Kilinochchi.”In other countries, women fighters go back to their normal lives after returning from the battlefield …this will not happen in our country,” she added, referring to swathes of the north and east the rebels consider their homeland of Tamil Eelam.A truce agreed between the rebels and the government in 2002 is helping life gradually return to normal in and around Kilinochchi, as schools, hospitals and homes re-emerge from the rubble in towns all but razed to the ground by shells.The Tigers are allowing minefields along their forward defence lines to be cleared, enabling farmers to return to land they had to abandon long ago.But talks to turn the ceasefire into a lasting peace remain stalled since last year over the rebels’ demands for interim self rule, leaving the Tigers’ armed struggle in limbo.Female cadres, like their male counterparts, spend the impasse training like the soldiers of a regular army, engaging in physical exercise, weapons training and jungle war tactics.EDUCATING THEMSELVESThe women are estimated to account for around a third of the Tigers’ fighters — an overall tally the rebels keep a closely-guarded secret.”During the war period the cadres were in the battlefield,” said Thamilini, dressed in military fatigues, her hair plaited and pinned up in loops in the female Tigers’ distinctive hair-style.”But now in the peace period, the cadres are involved in educating themselves.””They are studying politics, English, computer science, electronics and any other kind of development work that we have to conduct among the people,” she added, a photograph of reclusive rebel leader V.Prabhakaran pinned above the doorway of her colonial-style chalet.Female Tigers joined up because they had no one to depend on once the civil war broke out in 1983.Around 6 000 female Tigers have been killed in fighting since then, of the more than 64 000 people killed during the Tigers’ war for autonomy.”We joined the LTTE to protect ourselves, and also to protect our society,” said Thamilini, who joined the Tigers at the age of 19, against her parents’ wishes.”According to our Tamil culture, the woman are the softness … This war changed us to protect ourselves, by depending on ourselves, not on others.”While the Tigers have a strict rule of discipline, and are not allowed to drink or smoke, male and female fighters alike are allowed to marry and have children.”Our main aim is that our next generation should enjoy the permanent peace that we are fighting for,” Thamilini said, a red rebel flag — emblazoned with a roaring golden tiger and crossed rifles — on her wall.”The next generation should have a war-less society,” she added.- Nampa-Reuters