Coordinates: 8°45′N, 80°29′E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

Vavuniya District.

District Map

Vavuniya is a town in the north Sri Lanka. This town is situated in the Northern Province. Vavuniya is often referred to as the gateway to Vanni (the area held by the LTTE). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 776 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2112 × 1632 pixel, file size: 140 KB, MIME type: image/png) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 776 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2112 × 1632 pixel, file size: 140 KB, MIME type: image/png) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Northern Province is a province of Sri Lanka. ... LTTE is an acronym or initialism for: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Known for their guerilla warfare forcibly killing every other independent groups aiming for seperate state. ...

Its name is believed to be a modification of the ancient name "Vewu Nimava", or "the end of Water reservoirs in Sinhala. (Vaeva)"[1]. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOVD Articles that have been linked to this page are the subject of an NPOV dispute (NPOV stands for Neutral Point Of View; see below). ... Sinhalese or Sinhala (සිංහල, ISO 15919: , IPA: [], earlier referred to as Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ...

History

In ancient times Vavuniya is considered to be under the rule of The Vannimai kingdoms which existed in North and East of Sri Lanka^{[citation needed]}.

Demography

Most of the residents are Sri Lankan Tamils with a notable Sri Lankan Moors and Sinhalese presence. Because of the civil war many Tamils and Muslims from Northern Districts migrated and settled in Vavuniya. Sri Lankan Tamils also known as Eelam Tamils, Ceylonese or Ceylon Tamils and Jaffna Tamils are today a trans-national minority, and are Tamil people from Sri Lanka. ... Islam in Sri Lanka is practiced entirely by Sri Lankan Muslims, who make up approximately 8% of the population, comprise a group of minorities practicing the religion of Islam in Sri Lanka. ... Languages Sinhala Religions Theravada Buddhism, Christianity, small groups of atheists, agnostics, Muslims, others Related ethnic groups Indo-Aryans, Dravidians, Veddahs, Bengalis The Sinhalese are the main ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ...

Economy

The town is now slowly returning to normalcy, traces of war are still apparent^{[citation needed]}.

Ethnic conflict

Vavuniya is a front line town in the ongoing war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army. However, Vavuniya is under the government control. Clashes between different Tamil militant groups have resulted in instability in the city and those from the south of Sri Lanka do not visit it often. A front line is a line of confrontation in an armed conflict, most often a war. ... Combatants Military of Sri Lanka Indian Peace Keeping Force Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Commanders Junius Richard Jayawardene (1983-89) Ranasinghe Premadasa (1989-93) Dingiri Banda Wijetunge (1993-94) Chandrika Kumaratunga (1994-2005) Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-present) Velupillai Prabhakaran (1983-present) Strength 111,000[1] 11,000[1] The Sri... Sri Lankan Army Flag The Sri Lankan Army is a branch of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces with the responsbility of overseeing land-based operations. ... This is a list that documents the numerous groups of Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups that were formed to fight the state of Sri Lanka to create an independent Tamil Eelam. ...

There are internal refugees and passes are need to travel from government- to LTTE-controlled territory. The Sri Lankan Army is in constant patrol and heavy security apparent.

Presence of SLMM in Vavuniya

There is a branch office of the SLMM in Vavuniya. As of as of June 2006, Mr. Jouni Suninen, a Finnish ex-army officer, is the head of the office. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission - SLMM, was established on February 22, 2002 by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE. SLMM consists of members from the five Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. ...