What is the conflict in Sri Lanka all about?
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. 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
