Tamil Tigers

By Steve Chao in Asia on November 19th, 2010
Rajapaksa knows one of his main challenges is to forge reconciliation between Tamils and the majority Sinhalese population

The first time Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed the seat of president in Sri Lanka, it was to limited fanfare. The year was 2005. He had just survived a fierce battle with his party for leadership, and the civil war with the rebel Tamil Tigers was still simmering. There wasn't much to celebrate.

This time around, the pomp and circumstance surrounding his second inauguration is staggering.

By Wayne Hay in Asia on January 23rd, 2010
Photo from EPA

Sri Lanka is in the unusual position of preparing for a presidential election while just under 100,000 of its citizens are being held in refugee camps. Yes, they can leave temporarily, but they can't go home.

We were granted the chance, by the Sri Lankan Army, to visit one of the camps, which were set up to house those displaced during the final stages of the civil war against the rebel Tamil Tigers. At its peak, the population was more than 245,000.

The Sri Lankan government was condemned in some quarters for forcing the Tamils into the camps, where according to some, the living conditions were less than satisfactory.

There's no doubt we were taken to the best one, and were closely watched by the officials.

By Wayne Hay in Asia on January 21st, 2010
Photo by AFP

This would have to be one of the more intriguing presidential elections the world has ever witnessed. The two leading candidates for the top office in Sri Lanka are the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and the retired army General, Sarath Fonseka.

The election on January 26 will be the first since the end of the civil war in May 2009, when the Rajapaksa government overcame the rebel Tamil Tigers who'd been fighting for an independent state for 26 years.

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