PROFILE: Mahinda Rajapaksa running for re-election on war victory

Colombo - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is determined to capture a second term in Tuesday's election on the merit of winning the country's 26-year civil war against Tamil separatists. "I am a man who does what I tell you"is one of the favorite campaign slogans of the candidate whose presidency has been dominated by the fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Three weeks after Rajapaksa was elected president in 2005, the LTTE triggered a new round of hostilities, ending a 2002 ceasefire.

The rebel attacks put Rajapaksa under pressure from Sri Lanka's Sinhala ethnic majority to strike back, but he initially favored negotiations.

He renewed his calls for the LTTE to return to the negotiating table to find a political solution, talks failed, attacks continued and in mid-2006 the rebels pulled out of peace talks indefinitely.

Later that year, Rajapaksa ordered the launch of full-scale military operations against the LTTE, which led to the rebels' defeat in May last year in a campaign that was subject to harsh international accusations of human rights violations by both sides.

Rajapaksa ignored international calls to suspend military operations because Tamil civilians were being caught in the crossfire, scrapped ceasefire deals, limited the work of foreign and local non-governmental organizations, and banned journalists from the battlefield in the process.

The president had the backing of the public - mainly from the Sinhala majority and minority communities who were also victims of the LTTE's terrorist attacks. By the end of the war, he was hailed as a hero with his supporters saying he should remain president for the next 30 years.

However, he is now facing stiff competition from his former army commander, General Sarath Fonseka, who is running as the opposition's presidential candidate after a reported rift with the president and his demotion a month after the civil war ended.

Born on November 18, 1945, in southern Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa hails from a political family with his father an influential politician and many of his relatives in politics.

In 1970, he entered Parliament, becoming its youngest lawmaker, but he lost his seat in 1977 and only returned to Parliament 12 years later.

During the 1987-90 Marxist insurrection, he championed the cause of human rights and accused the government of human rights violations.

In 1994, he became minister of labor and fisheries. In 2005, after an internal power struggle, he was picked as the presidential candidate for the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance.

One of his strengths has been the backing he receives from his brothers: Gotabhaya Rajapaksa serves as defense minister, Chamal also serves in his cabinet as ports, aviation and water management minister and Basil, a former senior presidential adviser, is a member of Parliament.

Rajapaksa is married with three sons, one of whom has already entered politics.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305423,profile-mahinda-rajapaksa-running-for-re-election-on-war-victory.html.