Ending Ethnic Civil War: The Peace Process in Sri Lanka

The ethnic civil war in Sri Lanka is one of the most intractable conflicts in the world today. Despite numerous efforts to resolve it, no agreement has been forthcoming between the two parties to the conflict: the Sri Lankan government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This article focuses on the peace process initiated in 2002 that was led by Norway and supported by the international community. It analyses how the process interacted with the fragmented political situation on the ground in Sri Lanka to produce the contrary result of a return to and intensification of the war.