© Clingendael Institute Conditioning Peace among Protagonists A Study into the use of Peace Conditionalities in the Sri Lankan Peace Process Georg Frerks and Bart Klem Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ Conflict Research Unit June 2006 © Clingendael Institute Desk top publishing: Carola van der Heiden Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ Clingendael 7 2597 VH The Hague P.O. Box 93080 2509 AB The Hague Phonenumber: # 31-70-3245384 Telefax: # 31-70-3282002 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.clingendael.nl/cru © Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyrightholders. Clingendael Institute, P.O. Box 93080, 2509 AB The Hague, The Netherlands. © Clingendael Institute Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Objectives and Questions ..........................................................1 1.2 Conceptual Aspects.................................................................................3 1.3 Methodology and Approach ....................................................................8 2. Background to the Conflict ....................................................... 9 2.1 The Current Peace Process....................................................................12 2.2 The Nature of the Conflict in Sri Lanka.................................................14 2.3 The Peace Process in Retrospect............................................................16 3. Changes in International Involvement with Sri Lanka .................19 3.1 ‘Classic’ International Aid .....................................................................20 3.2 In the Absolute Indian Sphere ...............................................................21 3.3 In Relative Isolation...............................................................................21 3.4 In the Global Village..............................................................................24 4. Mapping Peace Conditionalities ...............................................27 4.1 Kinds of Conditionality .........................................................................27 4.1.1 Getting the Parties to the Table and Keeping Them There.....................27 4.1.2 Offering a Peace Dividend and thus Raising the Stakes...........................28 4.1.3 Fostering Cooperation and Recognition .................................................32 4.2 Donor Practice......................................................................................35 4.2.1 The Cash Game: The Development Banks ............................................35 4.2.2 The Powers’ Game: Co-Chairs ..............................................................41 4.2.3 The ‘Likeminded’ Game: European Bilateral Donors .............................48 4.2.4 The Neighbours’ Game: Asian Donors ..................................................50 4.2.5 The Humanitarian Game: UN Involvement ...........................................51 4.3 Revisiting conditions .............................................................................53 5. Local Perspectives and Responses ............................................57 5.1 Government..........................................................................................57 5.1.1 The UNP period ...................................................................................58 5.1.2 The SLFP period ..................................................................................59 5.2 Sinhala constituencies............................................................................60 5.3 LTTE ...................................................................................................62 5.3.1 Financial incentives ...............................................................................62 5.3.2 Diplomatic pressure ..............................................................................63 5.3.3 ‘ Excessive’ international involvement ......................................................64 5.4 Tamil constituencies..............................................................................65 5.5 Muslim constituencies ...........................................................................67 5.6 Implications of varying local perspectives and contradictory expectations 69 © Clingendael Institute 6. Conclusions and Policy Implications.........................................71 6.1 Conclusions ..........................................................................................71 6.1.1. Formulating conditions .........................................................................71 6.1.2 Enforcing conditions .............................................................................73 6.1.3 Little traction ........................................................................................74 6.2 Policy implications ................................................................................77 Bibliography ...................................................................................83 Annex 1. Conceptual descriptive framework for the analysis of (peace) Conditionalities...............................................................................87 © Clingendael Institute Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank CAS Country Assistance Strategy CFA Cease Fire Agreement CPE Complex Political Emergency DFID Department for International Development DWG Donor Working Group on the Peace Process EPDP Eelam People’s Democratic Party FP Federal Party GoSL Government of Sri Lanka GTZ German Technical Cooperation HSZ High Security Zone IDA International Development Agency IDP Internally Displaced Person ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IMF International Monetary Fund IPKF Indian Peace Keeping Force ISGA Interim Self Governing Authority JVP Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam MP Member of Parliament NEPC North East Provincial Council NGO Non-Governmental Organisation ODA Official Development Assistance OTI Office for Transition Initiatives PCIA Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment PDS Planning and Development Secretariat PRSC Poverty Reduction Support Credit PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper P-TOMS Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SIDA Swedish International Development Agency SIHRN Sub Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs in the North-East SLFP Sri Lanka Freedom Party SLMM Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission TRO Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation TUF Tamil United Front TULF Tamil United Liberation Front UPFA United People’s Freedom Alliance UK United Kingdom UNHCR United High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNP United National Party US United States © Clingendael Institute UTHR University Teachers for Human Rights WFP World Food Programme © Clingendael Institute Acknowledgements All views and observations put forward in this report are the authors’ and they do not necessarily represent those of the commissioning agency (the UK Department for International Development) or the people who have contributed to this study through interviews, inputs or comments. We would like to thank our co-researchers Jonathan Goodhand and Marc Sedra as well as Jim Boyce who acted in an advisory capacity for their valuable suggestions, questions and comments. We are also grateful to Vasana Wickremasena and his colleagues S. Dammulla and Ameen Hussein for their study into domestic perceptions and media, which has been an important ingredient of chapter five of this study. We owe many thanks to Tim Heath for his tireless efforts in taking this study forward and we are grateful to his numerous colleagues at DFID for providing comments and support. Special thanks are due to the External Resources Department of the Sri Lankan government and Nina Kataja (World Bank) and Brian Smith (ADB) for the provision of quantitative data that underpin this study. Finally, we wish to express our appreciation to all those people who took the effort to talk to us, both in the course of the present research and on the numerous occasions that preceded it. About the Authors Georg Frerks is Professor of Conflict Studies at Utrecht University. Within the field of conflict studies he focuses on conflict management, resolution and mediation and development-related conflict and emergencies in developing countries, among which Sri Lanka. He holds a joint appointment as Professor of Disaster Studies at Wageningen University. Bart Klem is an independent researcher on issues of conflict and development. Most of his research policy oriented. Throughout the past six years he has worked in or on Sri Lanka for a considerable part of his time. © Clingendael Institute © Clingendael Institute Executive Summary Introduction Following several generations of aid conditionality in the realms of economic reform and good governance, it was in the course of the 1990s that ‘peace conditionalities’ came to the limelight. Linkages between conflict and development came to be widely acknowledged and aid was assigned a central role in war-to-peace transitions. Aid became an instrument for reinforcing political pressure on (previously)