Supporting peace-processes in conflict ridden societies has been a heavily discussed issue in social sciences and development practice during recent years. The events in former Yugoslavia, Israel and Palestine, Rwanda and many other regions in the world have gained not just a great deal of media presence, but led to discussions on how the ?international community? could assist the actors embroiled in violent struggles in the different phases of
conflict in order to mediate, pacify and consolidate peace-processes (DAC 1997; Uvin 1999; Klingebiel 1999; Mehler et al. 2000). Development-cooperation is seen as an appropriate tool for peace-building efforts, since it is commonly assumed that development and peace have a
reciprocal relationship to each other.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, located in the south-east at the border to Myanmar, are a ?classical? case of conflict between the state and separatist groups fighting for cultural autonomy, freedom and recognition, against oppression, nationalism and hegemony. The people of the CHT are so-called tribals, or indigenous people. They are comprised of different ethnic groups, representing a broad cultural diversity. Starting with Bangladesh?s independence and having developed in a reciprocal process of nationalism and counter-nationalism, the armed struggle between the CHT and the state continued for about
25 years. Finally, in 1997, the government of Bangladesh and the CHT resistance movement were able to negotiate acceptable provisions in a Peace Accord, which ended the long era of ethnic conflict.
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries of the world. The CHT are a small region of 16,966 square kilometres, about 10% of the state territory. Development cooperation has a long tradition in Bangladesh, but the CHT have been almost unaffected by any assistance from donating countries and are considered even ?less developed? than the rest of the country.
Among many other donating countries, Germany is interested in contributing to CHT?s development, and at the same time in supporting the peace process. By joining an appraisal mission of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in 2000, I had the opportunity to participate in the process of finding possible strategies a donating agency could adopt in order
to support peace and development in the CHT. On the basis of this field research my aim within this thesis is to address the problems and difficulties of planning projects in postconflict regions which are characterised by high ethnic complexity, such as the CHT.
The major focus of this thesis lies on the analysis of the local setting, exploring the dynamics of conflict there. The most important category for analysis is ethnicity. But the concepts of ethnicity are broad and complex. Two major schools can be distinguished: the primordial and the constructivist approaches.
