Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Population20,277,597

CapitalSri Jayawardenapura Kotte

Sri Lanka suffered from over 25 years of armed conflict until the Sri Lankan Government defeated the separatist the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. Arising out of ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority, various attempts for negotiated peace and ceasefires failed during the civil war. The war resulted in many deaths, displaced around one million civilians, and has caused 86,000 women to become widows in the north and east. The priority now is recovery and reconciliation.