TIMELINE: Brief history of Sri Lanka crisis
1948 - Independence from Britain. 1956 - Sinhala Act makes Sinhala the sole official language, restricting employment opportunities for Tamils. 1976 - Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) founded. 1983 - Riots and clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils leave thousands of Tamils dead and several hundred thousand as refugees. Large number of government forces are deployed in the north and east. 1985 - Talks to find a political solution to the conflict fail and conflict intensifies. 1987 July - India and Sri Lanka sign accord creating regional councils to give Tamils in the northeast limited autonomy. Indian troops arrive to enforce the pact which is endorsed by Tamil rebel groups. Oct - LTTE reneges on the accord and begin three years of battles that kill more than 1,000 Indian troops. 1988 Dec - Ranasinghe Premadasa is elected president after promising to send Indian troops home and begin talks with LTTE. 1990 June - Talks fail as LTTE overruns police stations in east. 1991 May - Suspected female Tiger suicide bomber kills Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. 1993 May - Premadasa is killed by a suicide bomber. 1995 Jan - Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and rebels agree to stop fighting and talk. April - Truce ends when rebels blow up two navy vessels. 1996 Jan - Tiger suicide bombers blow up central bank building. More than 100 killed and about 1,400 hurt. 1997 Oct - United States declares LTTE a terrorist group. LTTE bombs World Trade Centre in Colombo, killing 15. 1998 Jan - Sri Lanka outlaws the LTTE after suicide attack on country's holiest Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. 1999 Dec - Kumaratunga survives LTTE suicide bomb attack, loses one eye, spurring a sympathy vote analysts say helped her win re-election. 2000 May - Norway's special envoy for peace, Erik Solheim, begins talks with Sri Lankan leaders. 2001 Attack on the international airport in Colombo destroys civilian and military aircraft. 2002 Feb - Government and LTTE sign Norwegian-brokered ceasefire, laying groundwork for direct peace talks. Dec - Tigers give up demand for a separate state and agree to work with government towards devolution of power. 2003 April - Tigers pull out after six rounds of talks, saying not enough being done to rebuild war-hit Tamil areas. 2004 Dec - Indian Ocean tsunami kills at least 35,000 people in Sri Lanka, affecting both Tamil and Sinhalese areas. 2005 Aug - Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar assassinated by suspected rebel snipers. Nov - Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse elected president after Tigers boycott polls, torpedoing chances of the more conciliatory candidate. Nov - Shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran warns that without new concessions the Tigers will "intensify their struggle". This is widely seen as a thinly-veiled threat of war. Dec - Mine attacks by suspected Tigers kill 39 soldiers. 2006 Jan - Suspected Tigers attack and sink a small naval boat. |
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