This International Dateline episode includes two segments: Sri Lanka's Shadow War and Kenya - Where Women Rule.
Sri Lanka's Shadow War
Sri Lanka, an island devastated by the tsunami, has already had to deal with the damage of the stop-go civil war between the government and the rebel Tamil Tigers, a brutal conflict that's left more than 60,000 dead. In recent years, a fragile cease-fire put a clamp on what had been open hostility. But now, in what was already a complex conflict, a new, third force has emerged. Dubbed the 'paramilitaries,' they're accused of attacking the Tamil Tigers as a proxy force for the government. The government denies this, countering that the so-called paramilitaries are a fiction concocted by Tiger propagandists. So what's the real story?
Kenya - Where Women Rule
Dateline visits one of the most patriarchal parts of the world where, oddly enough, a women-only village is thriving. In remote northern Kenya, a group of tribal Samburu women have established the all-female village of Umoja, after their husbands violently discarded them. The women say they had been raped by British soldiers from a nearby army base, and as a result, abandoned by their husbands who claim they have shamed their community.
Destitute and homeless, the women work hard and their village begins to thrive. But their estranged husbands become jealous of their success, and demand they share some of their new-found wealth. When the women refuse, the atmosphere turns ugly and the men turn violent. The Chief of all the villages intervenes and tries to bring the men and women back together again. Dateline's Elizabeth Tadic spent two weeks in the harsh African desert and brought back an unusual story about gender relations.
About International Dateline
SBS Dateline, which began in 1984, is Australia's longest-running international current affairs program. It has a well-earned reputation for authoritative and incisive reporting. Dateline has taken the traditional way of producing TV current affairs and turned it on its head. Reporters who used to travel with a cameraperson and sound recordist now travel alone and have the responsibility of both filming and reporting their stories. The reporters became video-journalists, gaining access to people and places that the conventional camera crews cannot.
