Dalmanuta is located on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka , far from the northern parts of the country where the fighting between the government and the Tamil tigers still goes on. During the whole period of the civil war tourist has never been the target or been seriously hurt.

After the independence in 1948 the Tamils in many areas came to be discriminated against by the Singhalese majority. Among other things Singhalese became the only official language and it was made harder for Tamils to attend higher education. These actions led to an escalating resistance among the Tamil population and eventually to the outbreak of a full scale civil war in 1983.

The civil war has cost more then 60 000 people their lives and the war has severely hurt the country’s economy. This led to protests among the Singhalese population against the government and in 1970 and in 1987 young Singhalese took to the streets in violent protests.

Since the independence the two largest parties UNP (United National Party) and SLFP (Sri Lankan Freedom Party) has taken turns being in power. Both parties are concerned with the country’s welfare, the religion and the language. The UNP though is more market and west oriented while the SLFP has a more socialist approach looking towards China , Iran and Russia .

LTTE- The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fights for an independent Tamil state in the north and east of the country.

In February 2002 the sides agreed on a ceasefire and peace negotiation started mediated by Norway .

On the 26 th of December 2004 the country was hit by the Tsunami and the economical recovery was put to a halt.

At the election in 2005 the LTTE who controlled the northern and eastern parts of the country hindered most Tamils to participate in the election and hence the UNP government lost and the present not so Tamil friendly government with President Mahinad Rajapakse got elected

Continuous attacks on military and civil targets by the LTTE led the government early in 2007 to declare the ceasefire as violated and no longer valid. Right after that the government started to advance on the LTTE and soon they had taken back most parts of the east coast where elections where held in the late spring of 2007.

During the summer and fall of 2008 the government continued to advance on the LTTE and by the New Year 2009 the government captured the unofficial Tamil capital Kilinochi and a week later they had captured the Elephant Pass connecting the Jaffna peninsula with the mainland.

By May 17th this year the fighting on the ground was over and the Tamil Tiger leader was dead. Still there are Tamils kept in transition camps in the north where the army is looking for rebel fighters, but the replacement process is now speeded up and should be over by the end of the year. The war is over and may we all have a good peace!