Sri Lanka

Occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century and the Dutch in the 17th century, the island was ceded to the British in 1802. As Ceylon it became independent in 1948; its name was changed in 1972. Tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted in violence in the mid-1980s. Tens of thousands have died in an ethnic war that continues to fester.

• tropical monsoon;
• northeast monsoon (December to March);
• southwest monsoon (June to October)

• deforestation;
• soil erosion;
• wildlife populations threatened by poaching and urbanization;
• coastal degradation from mining activities and increased pollution;
• freshwater resources being polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff;
• waste disposal;
• air pollution in Colombo

• 19,408,635 (July 2001 est.) note: since the outbreak of hostilities between the government and armed Tamil separatists in the mid-1980s, several hundred thousand Tamil civilians have fled the island;
• as of mid-1999, approximately 66,000 were housed in 133 refugee camps in south India, another 40,000 lived outside the Indian camps, and more than 200,000 Tamils have sought refuge in the West

• 8 provinces;
• Central, North Central, North Eastern, North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva, Western;
• note - North Eastern province may have been divided in two - Northern and Eastern

chief of state:

• President Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (since 12 November 1994);
• note - Ratnasiri WICKRAMANAYAKE (since 10 August 2000) is the prime minister;
• in Sri Lanka the president is considered to be both the chief of state and the head of the government, this is in contrast to the more common practice of dividing the roles between the president and the prime minister when both offices exist head of government: President Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (since 12 November 1994);
• note - Ratnasiri WICKRAMANAYAKE (since 10 August 2000) is the prime minister;
• in Sri Lanka the president is considered to be both the chief of state and the head of the government, this is in contrast to the more common practice of dividing the roles between the president and the prime minister when both offices exist cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president in consultation with the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term;
• election last held 21 December 1999 (next to be held NA December 2005) election results: Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA reelected president;
• percent of vote - Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA (PA) 51%, Ranil WICKREMASINGHE (UNP) 42%, other 7%

• unicameral Parliament (225 seats; members elected by popular vote on the basis of a modified proportional representation system by district to serve six-year terms) elections: last held 10 October 2000 (next to be held NA October 2006) election results: percent of vote by party - PA 45.11%, UNP 40.22%, JVP 6%, NUA 2.29%, SU 1.48%, TULF 1.23%, other 3.67%;
• seats by party - PA 107, UNP 89, JVP 10, TULF 5, EPDP 4, NUA 4, TELO 3, ACTC 1, SU 1, independent 1

• Supreme Court;
• Court of Appeals;
• judges for both courts are appointed by the president

• All Ceylon Tamil Congress or ACTC [Nalliah GURUPAUAN];
• Ceylon Workers Congress or CLDC [Arumugam THONDAMAN];
• Communist Party [Raja COLLURE];
• Democratic United National (Lalith) Front or DUNLF [Srimani ATHULATHMUDALI];
• Eelam People's Democratic Party or EPDP [Douglas DEVANANDA];
• Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front or EPRLF [Suresh PREMACHANDRA];
• Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP [Tilvan SILVA];
• National Unity Alliance or NUA [leader NA];
• People's Alliance or PA [Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA];
• People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE [D. SIDDATHAN];
• Sihala Urumaya or SU [leader NA];
• Sri Lanka Freedom Party or SLFP [Chandrika Bandaranaike KUMARATUNGA];
• Sri Lanka Muslim Congress or SLMC [Rauff HAKEEM and Ferial ASHRAFF];
• Sri Lanka Progressive Front or SLPF [leader NA];
• Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization or TELO [SUBRAMANIUM];
• Tamil United Liberation Front or TULF [R. SAMPATHAN];
• United National Party or UNP [Ranil WICKREMASINGHE];
• Upcountry People's Front or UPF [P. CHANDRASEKARAN];
• several ethnic Tamil and Muslim parties, represented in either parliament or provincial councils

• Buddhist clergy;
• labor unions;
• Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE (insurgent group fighting for a separate state);
• radical chauvinist Sinhalese groups such as the National Movement Against Terrorism;
• Sinhalese Buddhist lay groups

• yellow with two panels;
• the smaller hoist-side panel has two equal vertical bands of green (hoist side) and orange;
• the other panel is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword, and there is a yellow bo leaf in each corner;
• the yellow field appears as a border that goes around the entire flag and extends between the two panels

general assessment:

• very inadequate domestic service, particularly in rural areas;
• some hope for improvement with privatization of national telephone company and encouragement to private investment;
• good international service (1999) domestic: national trunk network consists mostly of digital microwave radio relay;
• fiber-optic links now in use in Colombo area and two fixed wireless local loops have been installed;
• competition is strong in mobile cellular systems;
• telephone density remains low at 2.6 main lines per 100 persons (1999) international: submarine cables to Indonesia and Djibouti;
• satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) (1999)