Ethnic tension and peace process in Sri Lanka

by Paolo Mattei

A teacher while she registers some children who survived the tsunami in the town of Magalle

In the former British colony of Sri Lanka, the large island lying south-east off the Indian coast, that became a republic in 1972, has around 20 million inhabitants. The largest ethnic group is that of the Sinhalese (about 74%, very largely Buddhist), followed by the Tamil (about 13%, almost all Hindu) and by the Moors (7%, Moslem). The Catholics represent 7% of the population.
In the early ’eighties the ethnic tension between the Sinhalese and Tamil separatists, the latter grouped under the aegis of the LTTE (“Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eleam”, Tigers for the liberation of the Tamil homeland) and concentrated in the northern provinces of the country, led to violent civil war in which at least 64,000 people died. At the end of 2001 negotiations began that led to the signing of a ceasefire on 22 February 2002. The peace process, though stalemated since April of 2003, is still ongoing.
The tragedy of the tsunami that hit South East Asia on 26 December last killed at least 31,000 people in Sri Lanka.