The Cage : The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers

The Cage is a brilliant yet harrowing account of Sri Lanka's fall into darkness. From one of the most promising nation states of the post-colonial world, Sri Lanka descended into bitter civil conflict between a vicious and corrupt government and the equally barbaric Tamil Tigers. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of civilians were to pay the price. Gordon Weiss, a veteran journalist and UN official with two decades' experience in many of the world's hot spots, was firmly entrenched in the conflict as spokesperson for the United Nations in Colombo. He was a close observer as, in just four months in 2009, tens of thousands of civilians were killed as they were cornered alongside the last of the Tamil Tigers. This account unravels the compelling history which leads up to that horrific moment, peeling back the Sri Lankan government's cloak of silence to reveal the events of those weeks beat by beat. It offers a rare window into the reality behind the daily headlines: the inner workings of media manipulation, and the plight of international aid workers struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to those caught in the crossfire of a deadly civil conflict.