War Termination in Sri Lanka
This article has a central aim of explaining the catastrophic loss of civilian life in the last five months of the civil war in Sri Lanka. The article proposes that both the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE are culpable for civilian deaths; the LTTE in an effort to stave off defeat so it might be able to re-constitute itself at a later time, and the GoSL in a determination not to allow the LTTE as an organization to survive the conflict. The article also argues that a preliminary explanation for the origins of the Sri Lankan civil war can be found in the GoSL program of transferring members of the Sinhalese population into the Northern and Eastern provinces of the country, regions held by the Tamil population to be their homeland territory. Key words : Population; Tamil; Sinhalese insurgency; Civilian; Territory
Colonization and Ethnic Conflict in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka
Sri lanka's inability to contain ethnic violence as it escalated from sporadic terrorism to mob violence to civil war in recent years has disheartened observers who had looked to the nation as a success story of social and political development. In retrospect, Sri Lanka lacked effective local institutions to integrate the society, and the Sinhalese elite relied on welfare and preferential policies for the Sinhalese majority to maintain power. These alienated the minorities and resulted in Tamil demands for a separate state. This article documents one of the more intractable areas in which ethnic conflict has arisen, land “colonization.” Both major parties competed for the votes of the Sinhalese, but the creation of agricultural settlements in the undeveloped interior of the island, or colonization, is associated primarily with the United National Party (UNP). During the UNP government of recently retired President Junius Richard Jayewardene (1977–88), both the level of violence and the pace of colonization in the Dry Zone between the Sinhalese and Tamil majority areas increased.
Developers of the hepatitis B vaccine.
air at VA facilities, one of the many pieces of unfinished business beyond those major issues that we discussed in our Commentary. We agree that all facilities where current and past military personnel serve and receive treatment should be 100% smoke-free and note the recent Institute of Medicine report Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations. The report, which was commissioned by the Department of Defense (DOD) in 2007, calls for the DOD to set a timeline to eliminate smoking on military installations. The report also recommends that the DOD stop selling tobacco products in military commissaries and exchanges, prohibit tobacco use anywhere on military installations, and treat tobacco use in the same way as other health-related behaviors, such as alcohol abuse and poor physical fitness. We join Matthews and the Institute of Medicine in urging the VA and the DOD to take more immediate steps to protect the health of the men and women who serve in the armed services, as well as the civilians (such as Dr Matthews) working to serve them.