Sri Lanka conflict
Last reviewed: 01-04-2008
ISLAND SLIDES BACK INTO WAR
Tamil residents flee Palai village for a safe area in Kilinochchi, May 2006.
REUTERS/Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi
REUTERS/Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi
Violence first erupted in 1983. Since then, some 70,000 people have been killed in fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels who want an independent state in the north and east of the island. Landmines and explosive debris have left large areas uninhabitable. The fighting has also laid waste to agricultural land, contributing to child malnutrition. One of the biggest tragedies has been the rebels' use of child soldiers, some as young as nine. The conflict has its roots in ethnic tension between the Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the mainly Hindu Tamil minority who accuse the government of discrimination. A ceasefire was agreed in 2002 and the rebels dropped their demand for an independent state, settling for regional autonomy. But violence has surged since the end of 2005 and the Tigers have reverted to their original demand for all-out independence. The government declared the truce dead at the beginning of 2008.
KEY FACTS
| REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE (IDPs) | |
| Total IDPs in August 2007 | 460,000 (Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre 2007) |
| Total refugees abroad 2006 | 116,966 (Source: UNHCR) |
| MALNUTRITION | |
| Percentage of underweight under-fives 1996-2005 | 29 (UNICEF 2007 report) |
| Percentage of undernourished population 2002-2004 | 22 (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation 2006) |
| CHILD SOLDIERS | |
| Recruitment | 3,883 cases reported from Feb 2002-2005 to UNICEF, which believes the actual figure is more than three times higher. |
| LANDMINES | |
| Casualties in 2006 | 64, of which 27 killed and 37 injured (See Landmine Monitor 2007 report) |
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