Is peace possible? The case of Sri Lanka
Since the ‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’ (LTTE) took up arms to fight for an independent homeland in the north and north‐east parts of Sri Lanka in 1983, tens of thousands of people have been killed, wounded or driven from their homes. At the beginning of the millennium, new peace initiatives have surfaced with Norway emerging as a major external player. These initiatives coincided with the launch of yet another offensive from the LTTE. The fighting subsided somewhat during the summer of 2000 with both sides seemingly locked in a war of attrition and unable to gain the initiative. This stalemate is also the result of war weariness and battle fatigue that has sapped the strength of the LTTE, making government overtures for peace and limited self‐rule more attractive to many in the Tamil population than ever before. This prescriptive study of the conflict, based on the author's own firsthand experience argues that there now exists a ‘window of opportunity’, a window through which a stable ceasefire, as well as moves towards a longer term political solution to the war, can now be viewed as distinct possibilities.