Kamal Koirala

Internal Practice of Conflict Resolution: Wanniye-laeto (Veddas) Community, Sri Lanka Kamal Koirala

There are basically three different forms of conflict found in this community, i.e. internal (in-group), with the neighboring (Sinhala, Tamil and others) community and with the state. As conflict is a part of life there are conflicts in between the members of the tribe and also there are conflicts with the neighboring communities because of the different living style, cultural and the other factors, i.e. the neighboring community beliefs on the mainstreaming system whereas the Wanniya-laeto community believes upon their traditional customary system. Also there are conflicts with the state or governmental authority. What they do believe is forest is theirs and they are the protector and utilizer of forest where as the state do have its own mainstreaming policies and the system. Here, this study has only highlights on the internal practices or mechanism of resolving the in-group conflict. Basically few important ways of dealing with conflict are found, i.e. facilitation, mediation and arbitration by head of family, head of the village, tribal head and warigyasava.