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More than 30,000 Sri Lankan civilians have fled the northern part of their South Asian island nation in recent days. The Tamil rebel group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, controls the region, a final sanctuary of the country that they have been cornered into. It is estimated than 100,000 civilians are still trapped there. The nationalist Sri Lankan government which represents the Sinhala community, has issued a surrender ultimatum that the separatist fighters are ignoring. The current showdown is the result of 2002 peace talks that broke down. Both sides have used tactics resulting in mass civilian deaths – since 2006, ten to fifteen thousand people have been killed. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that the situation had become “catastrophic.” Tens of thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates in the diaspora have protested in European cities in recent days calling for an end to the conflict. Meanwhile, news reports from the country are extremely difficult as foreign reporters are not being allowed in and local reporters are under severe pressure to toe the official line.

GUEST: Robert Templer, the Asia director at the International Crisis Group. For more information, visit www.crisisgroup.org.