Sri Lanka: Background and U.S. Relations

Abstract

Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is a constitutional democracy with a relatively high level of development. Political, social, and economic development has, however, been seriously constrained by ethnic conflict between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil ethnic groups. Since 1983, a separatist war costing at least 70,000 lives has been waged against government forces by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a rebel group that sought to establish a separate state or internal self-rule in the Tamil-dominated areas of the North and East. The United States designated the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997. Open fighting in this conflict came to a close with the defeat of LTTE field forces and the combat death of their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in May 2009. The government now faces the challenge of consolidating peace with the Tamil community now that LTTE forces have been defeated. Sri Lanka also suffered a huge natural disaster in December 2004. A massive tidal wave killed up to 35,000 citizens in Sri Lanka's worst-ever natural disaster.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 04, 2009
Accession Number
ADA501391

Entities

People

  • Bruce Vaughn
  • K. A. Kronstadt

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asia
  • Commerce
  • Department Of State
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Foreign Aid
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Man Borne Improvised Explosive Devices
  • Military Science
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • South Asia
  • Sri Lanka
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • International Relations and Conflict Resolution
  • Virology (or Medical Virology).