This is a simulation of a September 2001 meeting convened by the Norwegian government for the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) to explore avenues for resolving 17 years of conflict. What gives this meeting particular urgency is a donor threat to cut off aid unless the Sri Lankan government shows a willingness to explore political solutions. Donors have also indicated they may cooperate on legislation banning the fundraising and organizational activities of the LTTE in their respective countries.
This unprecedented consensus of the international community to end the violence using economic pressure has changed the status quo of the conflict, and offers a rare and promising window of opportunity. Even so, despite this pressure, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government remain adamant in their refusal to negotiate directly. In role-playing the various interests at the meeting, participants will attempt to persuade the parties to create an acceptable agenda that can serve as the basis for peace talks.
Scenario
It is September 2001, and Norway has convened a meeting in Geneva to explore possibilities for the resolution of the Sri Lankan conflict and the subsequent reconstruction of Sri Lankan society. Both the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) have agreed in principle to attend the meeting in order to explore avenues for resolving the conflict. In addition to these two groups, Norway has also invited political parties, states, NGOs, and IGOs that it considers to be major stakeholders in the conflict to attend the meeting. This request comes on the heels of a recently held meeting in Paris between the UN and all major aid donors to Sri Lanka during which the donors, especially the G-7, urged the parties to the conflict to begin a process of dialogue.
This call is the latest in a string of abortive peace initiatives, stretching back to the Thimpu Peace Talks in 1984, that have attempted to halt the island nation’s seventeen year-old protracted civil conflict. However, this opportunity may be unique in one crucial respect: it is in the interests of both parties to explore the possibilities of negotiations. The donors have, on the one hand, threatened to cut off aid unless the Sri Lankan government’s top leadership show a willingness to explore a political solution to the country’s conflict. On the other hand, they have indicated that they will begin cooperating with each other to enact legislation banning the activities of the LTTE in their respective countries, which are vital to the fundraising and organizational capabilities of the LTTE. This unprecedented emergence of consensus among the international community to end the violence using economic sanctions as leverage has drastically changed the status quo in the conflict, and offers a rare and promising window of opportunity. Norway has invited a range of major stakeholders in the conflict as it recognizes that their active participation and input is vital to the successful resolution of the conflict.
The purpose of the meeting is to persuade the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to draw up a mutually agreeable agenda as the basis for future peace talks between them.