Key facts about Sri Lanka, where the government and the Tamil Tiger separatists have been fighting for 25 years.
Geography: A tropical island off India’s southern tip. The capital is Colombo. Plantations of coconut, rubber, tea, cinnamon and other spices, with large sparsely inhabited areas of forest and scrub in its 25,500 square miles.
People: About 20 million: 74 percent Sinhalese, 18 percent Tamil, 7 percent Muslim. Most Sinhalese are Buddhists, while Tamils are predominantly Hindus or Christians.
Conflict: Tamil rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland, accusing the majority Sinhalese of widespread discrimination. The main rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, began as a guerrilla organization. By the mid-1990s, LTTE had a conventional army that was able to fight the Sri Lankan military. The group also used suicide bombs to kill prominent leaders, including former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa. At least 70,000 people have died in the conflict.
The Associated Press
