Conflict and Community in Sri Lanka

William Clarance explores the origins and complexities of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Flag of Tamil EelamThe Sinhalese-Tamil controversy over who arrived first in Sri Lanka and so has the better claim to be its ‘founding race’ has done much to contribute to the bitterness of intercommunal tensions which, in July 1983, erupted into the present civil war in the north-east of the island between the Sinhalese-dominated forces of the central government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

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