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CIAO DATE: 4/5/2007
Sri Lanka: The Failure of the Peace Process
November 2006
Abstract
Colombo/Brussels, 28 November 2006: Although resumed fighting has led to frustration, Sri Lanka needs international engagement more than ever, focusing first on immediate humanitarian concerns and halting serious human rights abuses, but including a longer-term effort to renew a peace process.
Sri Lanka: The Failure of the Peace Process, Crisis Group’s first report on Sri Lanka, describes the conflict’s background, its successive stages and the state of play, identifying major problems that have plagued the peace process. It will be followed by a series of more specifically focused reports, containing policy recommendations.
“The initial peace deal was rushed through, with the government keen to concentrate on rebuilding the economy”, says David Lewis, Crisis Group’s Regional Deputy Director. “Although it stopped full-scale military clashes, and probably saved thousands of lives, significant problems in the design of the process ultimately contributed to the failure to reach a political settlement”.
