Friday, September 20, 2013

Military involvement shrouds Sri Lanka elections

After nearly three decades of conflict, Sri Lanka is set to hold elections in the island's former war zone. But experts doubt whether the poll, already marred by allegations of intimidation, will ease ethnic tensions.

Sri Lankan army troopers patrol in Jaffna, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Colombo on September 18, 2013. Sri Lanka is holding the first ever provincial council election, scheduled for September 21. (Photo: AFP)

Author Gabriel Dominguez, Srinivas Mazumdaru-20.09.2013

For 25 years Sri Lankan armed forces fought against militant separatists seeking to create an independent state for the Tamil-speaking minority in the north and the east of the island nation. Only in May 2009 did the central government in Colombo, led by the ethnic Sinhalese majority, manage to recapture the last area controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), putting an end to a civil war that had cost the lives of more than 80,000 people, according to United Nations estimates.

Military Involvement Shrouds Sri Lanka Elections by nelvely