In Sri Lanka, the Tamils, mostly located in the north of the country, represent 30% of the population compared to 75% Sinhalese. They are Hindus. And it is to defend the rights of this minority that in 1972, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam took up arms. Their conflict has since left nearly 70,000 dead….
In this small country of 20 million inhabitants, the defense budget reaches 4% of the GDP . This is to say the weight of the civil war on the economy of Sri Lanka. A war officially started in 1983 even if the first violence dates back to 1972. It left 70,000 dead, weighed heavily on…
Tams tams and applause fed to the proclamation of the results of the legislative elections in Sri Lanka. The United National Party, in power since January, won the legislative ballot with 106 seats, only seven seats away from the absolute majority. Outgoing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is therefore almost guaranteed to stay in his post….
For over a decade, Kilinochchi served as the capital for the Liberation Tigers movement from Tamil Islam. But in November 2008, the Sri Lankan army launched attacks on the city from three different locations. The fighting raged in particular on the A9 motorway, the main axis connecting Colombo with the Tamil areas in the north…
A “historic victory for the nation”… These are the words of the president of Sri Lanka, whose army today seized the city of Kilinochchi, political capital of the rebels of the Tamil Tigers. Last September, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations present in Kilinocchi had to withdraw under pressure from the Sri Lankan state, as a…
Sri Lankan army soldiers relish their advance. This morning, and for the first time in 25 years of war, they took control of the entire coastline, according to military officials. They make it impossible for Tamil warriors to have any access to the sea, and now completely encircle the tiny territory of one square kilometer…
The founder and leader of the Tamil guerrilla was reportedly killed by the Sri Lankan army. Velupillai Prabhakaran is said to have been ambushed while trying to escape in an ambulance with two of his lieutenants. The Sri Lankan army has also announced that it controlled the entire island for the first time since the…
It’s jubilation in the capital of Sri Lanka. Part of the population is savoring the near end of 37 years of a bloody conflict with the Tamil rebellion. The most irreducible Tigers, surrounded by the Sri Lankan army in a coastal area of barely a few km2, preferred to stop fighting. President Mahinda Rajapaksa purposely…
The announcement of the surrender of the Tamil rebels was greeted with joy in Colombo. No human tide in the streets, but a few festive scenes that come to greet the end of a 30 years war. “The whole world was saying that we couldn’t beat this terrorism,” comments a taxi driver. We are grateful…