Sri Lanka scrapped peace deal donors to meet this week: report

Jan 06, 2007 (LBO) – Top donors to Sri Lanka who funded the island alongside a recently scrapped peace deal with the Tamil Tigers may meet this week to review their future course of action, a media report said. "It is likely that the Co-chairs would participate in a teleconference to review the situation that could emerge after January 16, when the abrogation becomes effective," the Nation newspaper said.

The donor co-chairs include the European Union, Japan, Norway, and the United States.

Quoting an unnamed source, the Nation newspaper said Japanese Special Envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi was also planning to visit Colombo in January, but the ending of the ceasefire has made it difficult for the visit to proceed.

The donor co-chairs organized a reconstruction funding conference in Tokyo which mobilized 4.5 billion dollars for the island more than five years ago, but the continued legitimacy or the relevance of the group is in doubt.

Some of the largest components of the package including a World Bank IMF component have been effectively rejected by the island as it embarked on a high inflation, subsidy based, economic strategy in mid-2004.

Sri Lanka has increasingly been re