international involvement in the sri lankan civil war michael cockburn
TRANSCRIPT
Colonial History
• Portuguese landed on the island in 1505, set up a fort in the port city of Colombo
• Passed hands first to the Dutch, then to the British in 1786.
• Britain immigrated many Tamils to the island
• Intentionally accentuated ethnic differences
Effect of Colonialism
• The colonial history of Sri Lanka is important in understanding the conflict that was to come.
• Gave the majority Sinhalese a ‘minority’ conceptualization of self
• Sinhalese set out to protect their culture from encroached upon by the Tamils
• Cut away at Tamil rights while enshrining their own
Indian Intervention
India took a paternalist tack towards the Tamils
Provided materiel and training to groups such as the Tigers
Intervened militarily in 1987, began open conflict with the Tigers
Withdrew in 1990, Prime Minister assassinated in 1991.
Tamil TerrorConducted over 200
suicide bombings
Invented the suicide belt in the 1980’s, Pioneered the use of women as suicide bombers
Abductions & extortions
Use mines to attack civilians
Have assassinated over 20 high profile officials
Diaspora• Tamils have a vast diaspora
community around the word• Actively lobbied
governments to support the Tamil Tigers’ cause
• Funded Tamil operations both willingly and unwillingly
Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission• Norway came to play a
central role in 2002• Convinced both parties to
sign a Memorandum of Understanding
• Started up an observation organization with other Scandinavian countries
• Ineffectual, allegations of biased reporting
• Fragile peace ended in 2006, mission was ended soon thereafter