Sri Lanka: LTTE’s brinkmanship in peace talks: Update
47
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
Miffed over its exclusion in the preliminary aid conference held in
Washington on 14th April and to show its displeasure over
certain other critical issues relating to the ongoing peace process, the
LTTE informed the Sri Lankan government that it had decided to suspend its
participation in the negotiations for the "time being". Then
followed the Norwegians and now the Japanese making shuttle diplomacy to
persuade LTTE to participate in the peace process and more particularly in
the coming international donor conference to be held in Japan on June 9.
This included a personal meeting of Japanese representative Akashi with
Prabakaran. So far the LTTE has not relented. Soon after, Balasingham the
chief negotiator of LTTE had to be rushed back to London from Wanni due to
illness making his participation in the next round of talks doubtful.
Balasingham’s letter of withdrawal and the Washington Conference: In
his letter to the Prime minister, Balasingham has cited the following
reasons for withdrawing temporarily from the peace talks.
* Exclusion of LTTE from critical aid conference in Washington.
* Non implementation of the terms and conditions enunciated in the
cease fire document.
* Continuous suffering and hardship experienced by the internally
displaced Tamils.
* Aggressive military occupation of Tamil cities and civilian
settlements.
* Deprivation and marginalisation of Tamils of the north east in the
macro economic policies and the strategies of the government.
The aid conference at Washington was more in the nature of a seminar
which brought together representatives of 26 countries and 16
international organisations and the discussions centered on the peace
negotiations and how international assistance for development and
reconstruction could strengthen the peace process. A detailed report was
made by the Norwegian State Secretary Vidar Helgesen in which issues
relating to security, economy, political and human rights issues were
discussed. The basic thrust of the Cease fire agreement according to the
Norwegian interlocutor was the principle of "balance of forces"
with the presence of "armed forces and two naval forces". This
more or less concedes a defacto naval presence of LTTE on equal terms with
the Sri Lankan Navy.
Since LTTE is designated as a terrorist unit, there was no question of
USA inviting LTTE for the conference. In fact, India would not also have
participated, if LTTE had been invited. One could ask- Was it necessary at
all to hold the conference in Washington and not any where else where LTTE
could have participated? It looks that the conference was specifically
held in Washington to show US support to the ongoing peace process. This
is confirmed in the follow up visit of Christina Rocca to Sri Lanka on May
12 and 13 . Besides meeting the political leaders she was set to meet the
Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte and Asgiriya Buddhist chapters, the two most
powerful heads of Buddhist clergy.
The High Security Zones: The LTTE is aware of the reasons of its
exclusion and yet decided to pullout of the talks to show its
dissatisfaction on many other critical issues.
Of these, the most contentious issue is the presence of High Security
Zones in Jaffna Peninsula. While the Army had agreed to move its forces
from camps outside the HSZs , it is the HSZ around Palaly that could be
the sticking point. Retired General Satish Nambiar of India who was
invited to study the HSZs has submitted his report. Briefly his
recommendations included
- the dismantling of the HSZs should be undertaken in two phases. First
the forward areas under the control of the Sri Lankan Security forces like
Muhamalai and other areas outside the main Palaly HSZ and in the second
phase the HSZ around Palaly airfield, KKS harbour and Point Pedro should
be dealt with.
- while dismantling government positions, there should be simultaneous
dismantling of operational military positions of LTTE..
- the SLMM machinery has to be strengthened with representatives of
military and police observers from other countries to give the mission
greater credibility, acceptance and authority. A joint commission is to be
set up with representatives from countries providing observers and donor
countries to oversee the operations.
- As a measure of confidence building, the long range weapons of LTTE
could be placed in existing deployed areas under international monitoring.
The Sri Lankan Defence forces will also have to subject themselves to this
agreement.
Gen. Satish Nambiar’s report has drawn severe criticism from the Sri
Lankan opposition and it is unfortunate that even his integrity has been
questioned. The LTTE has not so far responded to the report as they have
not been officially provided with a copy of the report.
It is doubtful whether Gen. Nambiar’s report will be implemented at
all. Firstly, an Indian General should not have been chosen at all.
Apparently there was Government of India’s acquiescence in his
selection. ( Another ex. Indian Naval officer has since been appointed to
advise on the question of naval security). Secondly, it was at the
invitation of the Sri Lankan government and not the President. It would
have been better that such investigations and recommendations are
sponsored and made through the existing SLMM mechanisms which will have
greater force and acceptability.
On the question of economic policies relating to the north east, there
are two issues that need to be sorted out- one relating to the North East
Rehabilitation Fund ( NERF) and the sub committee on Immediate
Rehabilitation and Humanitarian Needs ( SIHRN). The Sri Lankan government
had prepared a basic document "Regaining Sri Lanka" for donor
countries, which LTTE has argued deals generally with macro economic
realities of the entire island and does not take into account the unique
conditions of devastation and displacement of people of the north east.
There is no doubt that the functioning of the two committees NERF and
SIHRN should have been more efficient so that immediate results are seen.
The funds will have to be legally constituted and expenditure allotments
made transparent. There is a promise from the Sri Lankan Prime minister in
his reply to Balasingham that 15 approved projects under NERF are being
launched soon.
The feud between Prime minister Wickremasinghe and President continues
to hot up. The latter in the full presence of all the service chiefs
ridiculed the peace talks as one of a "travelling circus"in one
of the official meetings held to honour and assist disabled soldiers and
the families of war dead and missing. Her party has also been seriously
discussing a "memorandum of understanding " with the JVP and the
document may be signed any day. With this Prime minister’s UNF will be
put on notice as Chandrika could then use her constitutional powers and
call for snap polls and hope to win.
Not to be out done, the government is considering a "non
binding" referendum seeking an endorsement of the people for the
policy of the government on the peace process. At any rate the LTTE
appeared to be totally opposed to the proposed referendum.
In this situation none of the affected parties appear to be interested
in continuing the peace process except the poor Norwegians and now the
Japanese.
One exasperating trend noticed is that the Sri Lankan Monitoring
mission led by the Norwegians are going out of the way to please the LTTE.
Some instances that have been noticed are
* In an incident relating to the sinking of a Chinese trawler by
three to eight fast attacking boats resulting in the death of seventeen
crewman off Mullaithivu, the SLMM in its press release said that it
cannot rule out the possibility of armed elements not belonging to the
two parties to the cease fire agreement of being involved. It was one
thing to say that there was no proof but another to say that a third
party could have been involved. This was clearly a move to absolve the
LTTE which was suspected to have been involved as no other party other
than the Sri Lankan Navy and the LTTE could assemble that many armed
boats in an area known to be the stronghold of the LTTE.
* There have been killing of former informants of Sri Lankan Security
forces as well as cadres of Non LTTE groups. Though complaints have been
lodged with the SLMM, there has been no move to investigate or to fix
responsibility.
* There have been frequent incidents involving both the parties but
more by the LTTE in violation of the cease fire agreement. There has
been no prompt investigation or decision from the SLMM.
There are some basic flaws in the ongoing peace process but it is too
late now. Firstly, too much has been given away to the LTTE in the
cease fire agreement itself and there appears to be no point in the
President or the opposition parties blaming the Sri Lankan government now.
When one has recognised the balance of forces of the two parties with two
armies and two navies, how can one object to the SLMM recommending a
separate and exclusive training zone for the LTTE? ( See Washington
meeting where the Norwegian representative has conceded two naval units). Secondly the SLMM led by the Norwegians are too few in number.
There should be more. Thirdly, Norwegians by themselves cannot manage with
many complicated problems coming up. It would be better to associate other
countries like Japan to be involved fully. This is happening now.
Fourthly, the SLMM need not be diplomatic in dealing with cease fire
violations. They should apportion the blame promptly and clearly say so in
their press releases.
The peace process is greatly hampered by the ongoing feud between the
President and the Prime minister. Perhaps this is an area where India
could help.
The coming week will be crucial. Despite a three hour personal
meeting with Prabakaran, the Japanese envoy Akashi has come back empty
handed. A decision to participate in the June talks will have to be taken
in a week so that arrangements for the donor meeting in Japan could be
arranged well in time. If the intention of LTTE was to provoke the Sri
Lankan government to move quickly on rehabilitation and reconstruction of
North East, then their temporary withdrawal was worth it. Otherwise their
brinkmanship will result in a serious set back to the peace process
itself.
