Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 02/2010

Sri Lanka: A Bitter Peace

January 2010

International Crisis Group

Abstract

"Sri Lanka: A Bitter Peace", the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines how eight months after the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the post-war policies of President Mahinda Rajapaksa have deepened rather than resolved the grievances that generated and sustained militancy. Though the election campaign between Rajapaksa and retired General Sarath Fonseka has now opened up some new political space, Sri Lanka has yet to make significant progress in reconstructing its battered democratic institutions or establishing conditions for a stable peace.