Violence in Sri Lanka has escalated over the past two years, but there are widespread predictions of even greater bloodshed when a moribund ceasefire officially ends later this month.
The 2002 ceasefire halted two decades of conflict between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, but it began to unravel in 2005.
"The last two years have been the most violent in a 25-year-long war which has taken over 70,000 lives," the Wall Street Journal says.
The paper asks whether President Mahinda RajapaksaÂ?s "war of attrition" against the Tamil Tigers will work or simply plunge the country into more violence.
The rebels are fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country. Most of the war is being waged in the north but the Tigers have also targeted the capital, Colombo.
The WSJ predicts that things will only get worse, stating "over the last month, the Tigers have employed a mix of suicide attacks and mines in the South, mainly around Colombo, causing death, destruction and panic. Next to Kandahar, Colombo is becoming the most dangerous place in the world today."
The paper also warns that human rights will likely come under even greater fire. With the government looking unable to end the suicide attacks and roadside bombings, the paper predicts Sri Lanka will see an increase in security checks, further regulation of civilian movement, and further segregation and scrutiny of Tamils living in Colombo.
Sri Lankan publication The Sunday Leader laments the ceasefireÂ?s formal termination and worries about the fate of Sri LankaÂ?s internally displaced population. It notes that the ceasefire had allowed some 300,000 of Sri LankaÂ?s 800,000 internally displaced people to return to their homes. What of the rest, it wonders.
The Leader also worries that the loss of formal scrutiny by Nordic ceasefire monitors will further exacerbate violence. After 6 years in the country, the monitors are packing up Â? a move the paper views as likely to further decrease accountability on both sides.
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten doesnÂ?t think the termination need necessarily spell the end of NorwayÂ?s diplomatic presence in the country, but it does acknowledge that the government needs to rapidly renegotiate the terms on which it can remain.
The Financial Times also voices concern about the impact of the ceasefireÂ?s end on Sri LankaÂ?s worsening economic situation. Although it is South AsiaÂ?s wealthiest economy on a per capita basis, Sri LankaÂ?s soaring inflation, high military spending and the escalating civil war threaten its future prosperity.
Erik Solheim, the Norwegian minister who negotiated the original ceasefire, says in The Economist that although he believes negotiations will resume eventually, "many people will die in the meantime".
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