Sri Lanka - The Government (Sri Lanka)

The current president and daughter of two former Sri Lankan prime ministers, Chandrika Kumaratunga, 53, didn't let the assassination of her husband by the LTTE get in the way of the peace process. In November 1994, she sent delegates to begin discussions on ending the then 11-year-old civil war. The protracted talks ended up with the government's proposed offer of autonomy for Tamil provinces in the north and east. Since that effort failed after the LTTE sinking of two naval vessels in April 1995 at the port of Trincomalee, she's been pounding the LTTE and everyone unlucky enough to be in the vicinity with everything she's got.

The 120,000-strong army (10 times the size it was in 1983) took the Jaffna peninsula from rebel forces in May 1996. The army sent in 30,000 troops for 50 days and after the smoke cleared 2,500 people had died. Jaffna had been the financial, military and medical base for the Tigers, who are now mounting an increasingly effective jungle insurgency. The army is now fighting to clear the 45 mile road to Jaffna. Thousands have been killed in this so-called "Victory Assured" offensive, which started in May 1997. A suicide bomber tried to kill her in Dec. 1999. She escaped with a serious eye injury.

The Defence Secretary, Ministry of Defence

15/5, Baladaksha Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Fax: 00 94-1-541529

http://www.lankapage.com/wlib/gov.html