Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1987-89
The JVP launches a second Marxist insurrection, and attempt a Khmer Rouge-style peasant re-
bellion in the countryside. When the uprising is finally crushed, up to 60,000 people have died.
1991
A Black Tiger (an LTTE fighter trained in suicide missions) kills former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi, presumably to protest the IPKF, in the world's first female suicide bombing.
1994
President Chandrika Kumaratunga comes to power pledging to end the war with the LTTE. Peace
talks are opened, but hostilities continue. In 1999 she survives a suicide-bomb attack.
1995-2001
Hostilities between the Sri Lanka military and the LTTE intensify; following more failed attempts
at negotiation, the LTTE bombs Kandy's Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in 1998.
2002
After two years of negotiation, a Norwegian peace mission secures a ceasefire. Sri Lankans, espe-
cially in the north and east, return to a new normal; many émigrés return.
2004
A tsunami devastates coastal Sri Lanka, leaving 30,000 people dead. It's thought the disaster will
bring unity, but the government and LTTE are soon wrangling over aid distribution and recon-
struction.
2005
Sinhalese nationalist Mahinda Rajapaksa wins presidential elections. Before the election Ra-
japaksa signs a deal with the Marxist JVP party, rejects Tamil autonomy outright and denies
tsunami aid to the LTTE.
