Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

Encyclopedia : E : ET : ETH : Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

History of Sri Lanka
series
Pre History of Sri Lanka
Early Sri Lankan History
Kings of Sri Lanka
European Occupation of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Independence Struggle
Independence of Sri Lanka
Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka
The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is an ongoing conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils on the island-nation of Sri Lanka. Since the 1983 "Black July" pogrom, there has been on-and-off civil war, mostly between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or the LTTE, who want to create an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island. It is estimated that the war has left 65,000 people dead since 1983 and caused great harm to the population and economy of the country. A cease-fire was declared in 2002, but new violence in late 2005 led to fears of a renewed civil war.

Contents

1 Background
2 Beginnings of the conflict
3 Outbreak of civil war
4 Indian involvement
5 The 1990s
6 Tentative peace
7 Renewed violence
8 Another round of talks
9 See also
10 External links
11 Notes
12 Additional references

Background

While many have been led to believe that the struggle between Tamils and the majority Sinhalese has been a permanent historical feature of political life in Sri Lanka, this is not so. Before the colonial era, there were local kingdoms in Kotte, Kandy (both nominally Buddhist and largely Sinhalese) and Jaffna (Hindu and Tamil in its orientation). There were also some Tamil dominated areas in the Eastern Province, but these were under Kandyan control.

Historical invasion by the south-Indian Tamil king Ellalan or Ellare was reported as an epochal conflict between Tamils and Sinhalese by the near mythical Mahavamsa which led to a brief period of South Indian rule in the north, but he was defeated in battle by the Sinhala king Dutugamanu. Later, Pallava, Chola, Pandya and Kalinga kingdoms from India invaded and dominated the country from time to time along with periods of intense commercial and cultural interactions. These invasions have been retrospectively interpreted as an age old enmity between two ethnic groups by later historians. Many Sinhalese castes (see Caste in Sri Lanka) derive from South Indian immigrants who have happily assumed Sinhala Buddhist identity.

There is a sizable population of Tamils in the Central Province, descendants of plantation laborers from India imported by the British colonial authorities in the nineteenth century. These Indian Tamils, as they are called, still work mainly in Sri Lanka’s money making tea plantations. They have been locked in poverty for generations and continue to experience poor living conditions. Originally, they were the chief targets of Sinhala nationalism. Many were deprived of their citizenship in the late 1940s, and there were repeated attempts to repatriate them to India. Although they speak the same language, they are usually considered a separate community from the Sri Lankan Tamils of the North and East.

Beginnings of the conflict

Sinhalese argue that Tamils received preferential treatment under British rule (1796-1948). By the time of independence, there were more missionary built schools in the principal Tamil-dominated city, Jaffna, than in the rest of the island. This meant that there was a disproportionate number of Sri Lankan Tamils in the civil service, medicine and law in post-independence Sri Lanka. Sinhalese nationalists claim that this showed that the Tamils had benefited from favoritism; and although some nationalists do not agree with this view, many historians agree that the roots of the conflict stem from a "divide and rule" policy adopted by the British Raj during their occupation of Sri Lanka.

A watershed in Sri Lankan politics was the Sinhala Only Act of 1956, which made Sinhala the sole official language, restricted many government jobs to Sinhala speakers, and made changes in university admissions policies, which reduced the number of Tamils getting higher education. Although this policy was later changed to give equal status to Tamil as a national language, it created a rift between the two ethnic groups by undermining the confidence that Tamil people had in the Sinhalese.

In the decades after independence, Tamils politicians pushed for a federal system through the Tamil Federal Party. The concept of a separate nation, Tamil Eelam, was proposed by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in 1976. TULF was a coalition of parties who went on to campaign in the 1977 elections for an independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka. They won most of the Tamil seats, but the government banned them from Parliament for advocating an independent state.

Outbreak of civil war

Frustrated by the ongoing politics, Tamil youth started to form militant groups, some funded by bank robberies. In response, the government expanded its military presence in the north.

In July 1983, a deadly attack on the military in the north by Tamil groups sparked riots in Colombo, the capital, and elsewhere (see Black July Pogrom). The riots are alleged to have been planned in advance. Between 1,000 to 3,000 Tamils were killed [link], and many more fled Sinhalese-majority areas. This is usually considered the beginning of the ethnic conflict. In 1985, peace talks between the Tamils and the government failed, and the war continued. In 1987, government troops pushed the LTTE fighters to the northern city of Jaffna, which remains a center of LTTE activity to this day. In April 1987, the conflict exploded with ferocity, as both the government forces and the LTTE fighters engaged each other in a series of bloody operations.

In July 1987, the LTTE carried out their first suicide attack: "Captain Miller" of the Black Tigers drove a small truck with explosives through the wall of a fortified Sri Lankan army camp, reportedly killing forty soldiers.

Initially there was a plethora of resistance groups. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's position, adopted from that of the PLO, was that there should be only one. Over time the LTTE merged with or largely exterminated almost all the other militant Tamil groups. As a result, many Tamil splinter groups have ended up working with the Sri Lankan government as paramilitaries, and there remain legitimate Tamil-oriented political parties opposed to LTTE's vision of an independent Tamil Eelam.

Indian involvement

India became involved in the 1980s for a number of reasons – its leaders' desire to project India as the regional power in the area, worries about India's own Tamils seeking independence, and a genuine concern for the Sri Lankan Tamils' plight. The latter was particularly strong in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where ethnic kinship led to deep sympathy for the alleged discrimination against Sri Lankan Tamils. In the 1980s, the Indian central and state governments supported both sides in different ways, although it is widely believed that India provided the LTTE and other Tamil guerilla groups with monetary and training support.

India became more actively involved in the late 1980s, and in 1987 the Indian Air Force airdropped food parcels to Jaffna while it was under siege by Sri Lankan forces. Negotiations were held, and the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed on July 29, 1987, by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Jayewardene. Under this accord, the Sri Lankan Government made a number of concessions to Tamil demands, which included devolution of power to the provinces, a merger—subject to later referendum—of the northern and eastern provinces, and official status for the Tamil language (this was eventually enacted as the 13th Amendment). India agreed to establish order in the north and east with an Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) and to cease assisting Tamil insurgents. Militant groups including the LTTE, although initially reluctant, agreed to surrender their arms to the IPKF.

The Sri Lankan government was facing a mostly unrelated uprising by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in the south, and called in the Indian military immediately after the agreement was signed. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was formed, and initially oversaw a cease-fire and modest disarmament of the militant groups. The Sri Lankan government pulled its troops south and put down the JVP rebellion.

Few of the concessions agreed to in the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement were implemented. When the LTTE refused to disarm its fighers, the IPKF tried to demobilize them by force and ended up in full-scale conflict with the Tamils they had come to protect. Indian troops were accused of human rights abuses in the north and soon met stiff opposition from the Tamils. Simultaneously, nationalist sentiment led many Sinhalese to oppose the continued Indian presence. These led to the Sri Lankan government's call for India to quit the island, and they allegedly entered into a secret deal with the LTTE that culminated in a ceasefire. However, the LTTE and IPKF continued to have frequent hostilities, and according to some reports, the Sri Lankan government even armed the rebels willing to see the back of the Indian forces. Casualties mounted and eventually India pulled out its troops in March 1990.

Support from India dropped noticeably in 1991, after the assassination of a recently ex-Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, by a woman suicide bomber (Thenmuli Rajaratnam) widely believed to be an LTTE member and a victim of IPKF terror. In a 2006 interview LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham stated regret over the assassination but came short of outright accepting responsibility for it [link] [link]. India remains an outside observer to the ongoing peace process, with frequent demands to press for an extradition of Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of LTTE, even if a peace deal is struck between the parties in the future. India's central government has been firmly against the LTTE, although they do still speak up for Tamils' rights.

The 1990s

In the 1980s and 1990s, successive governments officially revoked some of the discriminatory policies, and recognized Tamil as an official language. Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Muslims today claim they are reverse discriminated. Tamils deny the latter claim, and see the changes that have been made as too little too late.

The LTTE took significant parts of the north as the IPKF withdrew, and established many government-like functions in the areas under its control. A tentative ceasefire held in 1990 as the LTTE occupied itself with destroying rival Tamil groups while the government cracked down on another JVP uprising. When both major combatants had established their power bases, they turned on each other and the ceasefire broke down. The government launched an offensive to try to retake Jaffna. At one point the air force even bombed the city with human excrement Daily Telegraph, London, 13 July 1990 London Independent Magazine, 3rd November 1990.

The LTTE, for its part, scored a major victory when one of their suicide bombers killed Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in May 1993.

In the 1994 parliamentary elections, the UNP was defeated. Amidst great hope, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party came to power on a peace platform. Talks with the LTTE proved fruitless. The new government then pursued a "war for peace" line, and retook Jaffna (the largest city the north). Repeated attempts by the government to take control of the land route from the south to Jaffna gained ground but ultimately failed. The LTTE then rolled the government out of much of the territory it had taken, but never succeeded in re-taking Jaffna.

The government forces often attacked civilian buildings such as temples, churches and schools in a bid to stem the growing resistance. These were often safe havens for Tamil civilians fleeing the air raids and their destruction resulted in a high amount of civilian casualties. In one particular incident in August 1995, Sri Lankan Air Force jets bombed Navali's St. Peter's church, killing at least 65 refugees and wounding 150 others. [link].

LTTE suicide and time bombs were exploded numerous times in populated city areas and public transport, killing hundreds of civilians. In January 1996, the LTTE carried out their deadliest suicide bomb attack, at the Central bank in Colombo, killing 90 and injuring 1,400. In October 1997 they bombed the Sri Lankan World Trade Center and, in January 1998, detonated a truck bomb in Kandy, damaging the Temple of the Tooth, one of the holiest Buddhist shrines in the world. In response to this bombing, the Sri Lankan government outlawed the LTTE and with some success pressed other governments around the world to do the same, significantly interfering with their fund-raising activities.

From July 1, 1999 to December 20, 1999 the LTTE intensified its attacks on the Sri Lankan armed forces in an attempt to liberate and consolidate territory. The LTTE launched 17 successful attacks in the region which culminated in the overrunning of the Paranthan Chemicals Factory base and the Kurrakkan Kaddukulam base. Thousands were killed. The rebels also advanced north towards Elephant Pass and Jaffna. The LTTE was successful in cutting all land and sea supply lines of the Sri Lankan armed forces in the town of Kilinochchi and surrounding areas. In December 1999 the LTTE tried to kill the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga. She lost one eye, among other injuries.

At the same time, the suicide rate on the island climbed to become highest in the world per capita. [link]

A significant peace movement also developed in the 1990s, with many organisations holding peace camps, conferences, trainings and peace meditations, and many other efforts to bridge the two sides at all levels.

After securing a vast area controlled by the government forces the LTTE further advanced northwards. This advancement of the LTTE was posing a serious threat to the Elephant Pass military complex that housed 17,000 troops of the Sri Lankan forces. [link] On April 22 2000 the Elephant Pass military complex, which had separated the Jaffna peninsula from the Wanni mainland for 17 years, completely fell in the hands of the LTTE.[link], [Tigers Seize Elephant Pass].

The LTTE's July 2001 assault on Bandaranaike International Airport destroyed 8 of the air force's planes (2 IAI Kfirs,2 Mil-17,4 K-7 trainers) and 4 SriLankan Airlines planes (2 Airbus A330s,1 A 340 and 1 A320), dampening the economy and causing tourism to plummet. Sri Lankan hopes for a military solution also faded.

Tentative peace

Approximate extent of area under the control of the LTTE, as of December 2005

In 2001, however, the LTTE began to declare their willingness to explore measures that would safeguard Tamils' rights and autonomy as part of Sri Lanka, and announced a unilateral ceasefire just before Christmas 2001. The LTTE are believed to have taken this action after fear of international pressure and even direct US support of the Sri Lankan Government as part of the War on Terror.

In parliamentary elections toward the end of the year, the United National Front (UNF) came to power on a peace platform. For the first time since the 1978 constitution introduced a strong presidency, one party held the Presidency (Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka Freedom Party) and the other, Parliament (with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, United National Party). This co-habitation was extremely uneasy. The new government reciprocated another unilateral LTTE ceasefire offer at the end of 2001. The two sides formalized it in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in February 2002. Norway is mediating, and, together with the other Nordic countries, it also monitors the ceasefire through the SLMM. Many other countries are offering substantial financial support if peace is achieved.

Some Sinhalese and Muslims have refused to support any concessions unless the LTTE disarms and becomes a democratic political entity.

The LTTE temporarily pulled out of the peace talks in 2003, saying that insufficient attention was being put on developing an interim political solution. The government eventually produced a proposal, and the LTTE a counter-proposal, which President Kumaratunga responded to by taking over several defense-related ministries. Peace talks remained suspended. In 2004 she took over additional ministries and dissolved Parliament, calling an election, which brought her United People's Freedom Alliance to power.

During the election, LTTE commander Colonel Karuna of Batticaloa-Ampara split from the group's main leadership, claiming insufficient resources and power were being given to Tamils of the eastern part of the island. The LTTE officially sacked him, small-scale violence erupted, and tensions were extremely high. After the election, brief fighting south of Trincomalee led to a rapid retreat and capitulation of the Karuna group, their leaders eventually fleeing to Colombo. It has now been revealed that a ruling Muslim politician was involved with Karuna's escape.

The Asian tsunami of late 2004 killed more than 30,000 people in the country. It was hoped that the disaster would bring the warring sides together, but the conflict continued.

Renewed violence

Until 2005, the cease fire between the LTTE and the government largely held. However, the situation was complicated by allegations that both sides were carrying out covert operations against the other. The government claimed that LTTE rebels were killing opponents and government soldiers and getting away with it, while the rebels accused the government of supporting paramilitary groups against the organization.

The foreign minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar, was killed by a sniper on August 15, 2005. The government blamed the LTTE, but no retaliation was made.

In the 2005 presidential election, the UNF candidate, Wickremasinghe, advocated reopening talks with the LTTE. The UPFA candidate, Mahinda Rajapaksa, called for a tougher line and renegotiation of the ceasefire. The LTTE openly called for a boycott of the election by the Tamils, but, believing the Tamils were getting ready to vote in large numbers, the LTTE was accused of using violence and intimidation to enforce the boycott. Losing the chance to get a large number of Tamil votes meant a loss for Wickramasinghe and a narrow win for Rajapakse. Despite being seen as a hardliner, Rajapakse promised to pursue peace and new talks with the rebels.

LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, in an annual address in November, stated that the Tigers would "renew their struggle" in 2006 if the government did not take serious moves toward peace.

Violence escalated in December 2005. Increased guerrilla activity included claymore mine attacks, clashes between the Sea Tigers and the Sri Lankan navy, and the killings of sympathizers on both sides. Prominent figures were targeted for assassination, including Joseph Pararajasingham, a pro-LTTE MP gunned down at a Christmas Mass. This violence left around 200 people dead. [link] The LTTE, following their standard practice, denied responsibility for the attacks, blaming "armed civilian groups" for them. Other incidents such as assassination of Tamil journalists and civilians led the SLMM to question whether a ceasefire can still be said to exist [link]. Observers believed that if serious steps are not taken towards peace, the country would return to war.

Another round of talks

In light of this renewed violence, the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor conference called both parties to come to the negotiation table. The co-chairs—the United States in particular—were heavily critical of the LTTE violence. US State Department officials, as well as the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, gave warnings to the Tigers claiming a return to hostilities would mean that the Tigers would face a "more determined" Sri Lankan military.

In a last-minute effort to salvage an agreement between the parties, the Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim and the LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham came to the island. The parties severely disagreed on the location of the talks; however, these last-minute efforts produced a breakthrough when both parties agreed the talks could be held in Geneva, Switzerland.

On February 7, 2006, Sri Lanka's government and the LTTE agreed to peace talks in Geneva definitively on February 22 and February 23. These talks were reported to have gone "above expectations", with both the government and the LTTE agreeing to curb the violence and to hold talks in April. [link]

Over the next few weeks following the talks, violence dropped significantly. However, beginning in early April, violence increased. Assassinations, mine attacks, and ethnic violence in Trincomalee threatened talks in Geneva scheduled for April 19-21. The LTTE called for a postponement of the Geneva talks until April 24-25, and the government initially agreed to this. Following negotiations, both the government and the rebels agreed to a civilian vessel transporting the regional leaders with international truce monitors. The eastern commanders for the LTTE were to have travelled north for an internal meeting on April 16, 2006. The journey involved rebels and ceasefire monitors crossing government-controlled territory. However, the climate shifted drastically when the Tamil Tigers cancelled the meeting, claiming to have not agreed to the navy vessels' escort. According to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the Tamil rebels had agreed to the Sri Lankan navy vessels' escort. "It was part of the agreement. The rebels should have read the clauses carefully. We are frustrated," said Helen Olafsdottir, spokesperson for the SLMM. [(BBC)]

Escalated violence ensued in mid April with suspected Tiger attacks, ethnic riots and unsolved murders. An attack on military vehicles using a claymore anti-personnel mine killed 10 navy sailors on April 11th. The following day, coordinated bombings by rebels and rioting in the north-eastern part of the country left 16 dead. A claymore anti-personnel mine exploded in Trincomalee, killing 2 policemen in their vehicle. Another blast, set off in a crowded vegetable market, killed 1 soldier and civilians. Ensuing rioting by civilians left more than a dozen dead. [(BBC)]. Responsibility for these attacks was claimed by an organisation called the Upsurging People's Force, which the military accused of being a front for the LTTE.

On January 5, 2006, five Tamil students were killed by the Sri Lankan Army [link]. Apart from these incidents, more than 100 Tamils were murdered by the Sri Lankan armed forces and paramilitary. [link]

On April 20, 2006, the Tamil Tigers officially pulled out of peace talks indefinitely. While the LTTE state that transportation issues have prevented them from meeting their regional leaders, analysts and the international community held a deep scepticism, seeing the transportation issue by the rebels as a delaying tactic to avoid attending peace talks in Geneva. [(Reuters)]

On April 23, 2006, six Sinhalese rice farmers were executed in their paddy fields by suspected Tamil Tigers terrorists in the northeastern Trincomalee district. [(AlertNet)] The following day, two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels were shot dead in Batticaloa while being caught planting mines after rebels reportedly hacked a young mother to death and kidnapped her infant. [(BBC)]

International condemnation against the LTTE was repeated following an incident on April 25, 2006, as Anoja Kugenthirasah, a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber attacked the Sri Lankan Army headquarters in the capital, Colombo, killing 10. Twenty-seven were injured, including the army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, as the attacker detonated her concealed explosives near the military's hospital. The Sri Lankan military began aerial assaults on rebel positions in the north-eastern part of the island nation. [(BBC)]

Following this incident, the Sri Lankan government air force dropped bombs in Muthur, a Tamil village, and killed at least 12 people. Around 20,000 Tamils were displaced due to this random bombing. [link]

On May 10, the Sri Lankan Navy allegedly killed 13 Tamils, including two children, in Jaffna. Human right organizations condemn this incident. [link]

New talks were scheduled in Oslo, Norway, for June 8-9.

External links

Notes

Additional references

Assignment in Colombo, J. N. Dixit (Indian High Commissioner during the 1980s negotiations that led to the IPKF presence) -- ISBN 8-122-00499-7

Hoole, R., Somasundaram, D., Sritharan K., and Thiranagama, R. The Broken Palmyra - The Tamil Crisis in Sri Lanka: An Inside Account. 1990. The Sri Lanka Studies Institute, Claremont. Also available online[link].

Rajasinghan, K.T. Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. 2001-2002. Serialised in Asia Times Online[link].

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.