Reconciliation Stops Insurgencies

The head of the Tamil Tigers, the only insurgent group I know of that has a nickname, has reportedly been killed, seemingly putting an end to the 25 year-old civil war. However, despite this there is still a Tamil minority and a Sinhalese majority, and if the central Sri Lankan government persists in what the Tamils believe to be repression, some new Velupillai Prabhakaran, a different rebel leader, will rise up in his place, and the guerrilla war will start anew. The Sri Lankans must understand that insurgencies sustain themselves through repression as an instrument of state policy, and to defeat an insurgency you must end the repression. The next few years, with no successor to the Tamil Tiger movement, offers an opportunity.

Matt Yglesias has similar thoughts.