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Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the suicide bombing attack Saturday that nearly killed President Chandrika Kumaratunga is evidence of the instability resulting from a 16-year-old civil war, pitting the mostly Sinhalese government against the ethnic Tamil Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Occasional peace talks have foundered and more than 55,000 people have been killed in the fighting, while another 800,000 people, mostly Tamils, are displaced. The war effort has drained the government treasury, has raised inflation to nearly 20 percent and has discouraged foreign investment. A renewed government offensive began in May. However, the Tiger rebels’ onslaught in November, which overran at least 10 key government bases in the north, wiped out the gains that the military had made over the last four years. In addition, 300,000 Tamils have fled to India, and 100,000 emigrated to Europe and North America.

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