Sri Lanka - Background and US Relations

CRS Report for Congress

Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

Sri Lanka: Background and U.S. Relations

K. Alan Kronstadt

Specialist in South Asian Affairs

Bruce Vaughn

Specialist in Asian Affairs June 4, 2009

Congressional Research Service

7-5700www.crs.govRL31707

Sri Lanka: Background and U.S. RelationsCongressional Research Service

Summary

Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is a constitutional democracy with a relativelyhigh level of development. Political, social, and economic development has, however, beenseriously constrained by ethnic conflict between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil ethnicgroups. Since 1983, a separatist war costing at least 70,000 lives has been waged againstgovernment forces by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a rebel group that sought toestablish a separate state or internal self-rule in the Tamil-dominated areas of the North and East.The United States designated the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997. Openfighting in this conflict came to a close with the defeat of LTTE field forces and the combat deathof their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in May 2009. The government now faces the challenge of consolidating peace with the Tamil community now that LTTE forces have been defeated. SriLanka also suffered a huge natural disaster in December 2004. A massive tidal wave killed up to35,000 citizens in Sri Lanka’s worst-ever natural disaster.The current state of affairs in Sri Lanka presents the United States and the internationalcommunity with several key challenges. Chief among these is how to help the government of SriLanka to win the peace now that it has won the war against LTTE forces in the field. Manyobservers feel that the manner in which the post conflict period is addressed will have a greatimpact on the degree to which the grievances of the Tamil minority can be put to rest. A policythat would address these grievances is perceived by many to be more likely to avert a resurgenceof conflict than one that ignores or exacerbates them. Another key challenge is how to recastforeign aid to assist those in need and those displaced by the civil war.Political rivalry between the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party(UNP) has long hindered peace efforts. The United People’s Freedom Alliance, a coalition of theSLFP and the staunch Marxist People’s Liberation Front (JVP), won a slim majority in 2004parliamentary elections and defeated the UNP to replace its then-Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe with perceived hardliner Mahinda Rajapaksa, who himself went on to win thepresidency in a narrow 2005 electoral victory. Rajapaksa stabilized his position by enticing thedefection of several UNP and Muslim party parliamentarians in early 2007, but his governmenthas faced constant pressure from the JVP and from hard-line Buddhist-nationalist parties that arepart of the ruling coalition. Meanwhile, the LTTE suffered a major schism in 2004 when a topcommander in the East known as Colonel Karuna broke away with up to 6,000 cadres and begancollaborating with government forces.The ethnic violence of mid-2006 was followed by a major government military offensive in 2007and Colombo’s formal withdrawal from the ceasefire agreement in January 2008, whichculminated in the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. U.S. policy supports peaceful effortsto reform Sri Lanka’s democratic political system in a way that provides for full politicalparticipation of all communities; it does not endorse the establishment of another independentstate on the island. Since Sri Lankan independence in 1948, the United States has provided morethan $3.6 billion in assistance funds, about two-thirds of this in the form of food aid. Direct non-food aid for FY2007 is estimated at $9.4 million. Serious human rights problems in Sri Lanka areblamed on all major parties to the ethnic conflict and have led to some limited U.S. andinternational aid sanctions. This report will be updated periodically.

Sri Lanka: Background and U.S. RelationsCongressional Research Service

Contents

Most Recent Developments.........................................................................................................1

The United States and Sri Lanka...........................................................................................2

Recent Congressional Interest...............................................................................................3

Historical Setting........................................................................................................................4

Political Setting...........................................................................................................................5

2003 Political Crisis........................................................................................................5

2004 Parliamentary Elections..........................................................................................6

2005 Presidential Election...............................................................................................6

LTTE Schism..................................................................................................................7

Ethnic Conflict and Civil War.....................................................................................................8

Parties to the Military Conflict..............................................................................................8

Sri Lankan Security Forces.............................................................................................8

The Tamil Tigers.............................................................................................................9

Current Challenges and Imperatives....................................................................................10

IDPs.............................................................................................................................10

Reintegration................................................................................................................10

December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.....................................................................................11

Economic Issues.......................................................................................................................12

U.S. Relations and Policy Concerns..........................................................................................13

Trade, Investment, and Aid..................................................................................................15

U.S. Trade and Investment............................................................................................15

U.S. Assistance.............................................................................................................16

Security Relations...............................................................................................................17

Geopolitical Context...........................................................................................................17

Human Rights Concerns......................................................................................................18

Internally Displaced Persons.........................................................................................18

Child Abductions..........................................................................................................20

“Disappeared” Persons..................................................................................................20

Annex One: Civil War Timeline................................................................................................21

Peace Talks Progress, 2002-2003...................................................................................22

Peace Process Stalemated, 2004-2005...........................................................................24

Civil War Resumes in 2006...........................................................................................25

Government Military Successes in 2007........................................................................26

Figures

Figure 1. Map of Sri Lanka.......................................................................................................29

Tables

Table 1. Selected 2004 Parliamentary Election Results................................................................6

Table 2. Direct U.S. Assistance to Sri Lanka, FY2000-FY2008.................................................20

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