Since the Sri Lankan government has decided to formally dismiss the truce with the segregationist Tamil Tigers, reached with the aid of Norway in 2002, the Nordic peacekeeping unit, only comprised of Norwegians and Icelanders, has to leave.
Since the autumn of 2006 ten members of the Icelandic Peace Corps have served in Sri Lanka. Currently, eight Icelanders are based in the country. Anna Jóhannsdóttir, office director of the Icelandic Peace Corps at the Foreign Ministry, told Fréttabladid that the peacekeepers have 14 days to wrap up their operations and leave.
Now that the truce between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers has been dismissed the conflict in the country formally reaches a new level, which political analysts have called an “undeclared civil war.” Violence is escalating.
