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Article: Tigerland: Tamil rebels ready to talk. (Sri Lanka).(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- May 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN May -- after more than a decade of continuous warfare -- the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sinhalesedominated government of Sri Lanka will attempt to work out a peace settlement.
Sri Lanka is an island with a population of 19 million in an area the size of Tasmania, Australia. Though sharing cultural affinities with the Sinhalese majority (74 per cent of the population), the Sri Lankan Tamils (12 per cent) have a different language and script. They allege systematic discrimination over the last 50 years.
Since 1976 their leaders have sought to establish a separate state -- called Eelam -- in the northern and eastern provinces of the ...