Peace breaks out in Sri Lanka
Tamil Tigers give backing to democracy across Sri Lanka
This is an event of the same magnitude as the IRA putting down their guns.
After nearly two decades of civil war in which 64,000 people have died, Sri Lanka’s government and the Tamil Tigers have achieved a startling breakthrough in their efforts to end the conflict that has torn apart the tropical island.
At the end of a second round of peace talks in Thailand, the Tigers announced yesterday that they wanted to participate in democracy, and would allow other political parties to operate in the areas under their control in the north and east. Their “ultimate aim was … to enter the political mainstream, which is democratic”, said their chief negotiator Anton Balasingham.