Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, flashing a broad smile, declared victory Tuesday in the country's 25-year civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels. "We are celebrating the defeat of terrorism," he said in a nationally televised speech before parliament. "We have won and restored democracy in the country." Rajapaksa announced that Wednesday would be a national holiday, to celebrate the war's end and begin a new phase in the country's history. It is time for Sri Lanka to build "a new country ... a new nation," he said, calling "the defeat of Tamil terrorism ... a victory for the Tamil people." With the war over, he said, Sri Lanka would begin to restore government services to Tamil areas.
