Sri Lanka risking a new war without reconciliation

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, left, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe hold hands and wave to Sri Lankan tea plantation workers of Indian origin during a rally in Norwood, about 140 kilometers (87.5 miles) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, May 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Tharaka Basnayaka)

Risking a new war without reconciliation with the Tamils

Sri Lanka’s lack of efforts to create reconciliation after the bloody civil war makes the country risking a new war, said the International Crisis Group (ICG).

 

When President Maithripala Sirisena took over power in 2015, there was hope that he would be in the lead of a reconciliation process between the Sinhala-dominated authorities and the tens of thousands of Tamil war victims.

But little has happened, according to ICG’s new report “Sri Lanka’s Transition to Nowhere” – Sri Lanka’s transition to no-goers.

“Two years in President Sirisia’s period, Sri Lanka’s fragile hope for lasting peace and cooperation across parties and ethnic divisions is threatened” the report said, which was published on Tuesday.

Sirisena won the election with support from the Tamils, who suffered most during the 37 years of civil war, which ended with a brutal government offense and up to 40,000 killed in May 2009.

 Norway did not succed as facilitator for peace

Norway worked for several years as a facilitator for a peace process between the government and the LTTE guerrillas, but the war ended that almost all LTTE leaders were killed, and most of the area held by LTTE was over-run.

 Sirisena has promised to investigate the assault that took place when his predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse was in power. But he has said no to allow UN-backed courts that can indict and prosecute military personnel for abuses against human rights and war crimes.

 He has also been criticizing the police investigation of the murder of a renowned cartoonist and government critic.

The promises of he made before being elected of economic reform has also not been implemented, according to the report.

History repeated, says ICG

– Ambitious promises to improve the economy, eradicate corruption, restore the rule of law, do something about the consequences of the war and write a new constitution, is largely unsuccessful, writes ICG.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today