Sri Lanka: The Norwegians declare a
"halt" in assisting the peace process: Update
55.
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
"Sri Lanka needs leaders, not bickering kids."
"Most Sri Lankans are embarrassed and shocked that two
people that they have looked up as ‘leaders’ are worse than
two spoilt, selfish, self centered children who think that the
world should pander to them." - An exasperated citizen
from the majority community.
"The crisis and confusion in the South have undermined
the trust the Tamil people had in the peace process." -
Thamil Selvan of LTTE.
In the political crisis that ensued the sacking of three
ministers holding key portfolios by the President, the Norwegian
representatives consisting of the Norwegian Deputy Foreign
Minister Vidar Helgesen and the special envoy Eric Solheim dashed
to Sri Lanka in the hope of saving the peace process. (Refer our update
54).
They met both the Prime minister and the President at Colombo,
then visited Killinochi and met the LTTE leader on 13th
November. The LTTE while recalling the historical past where the
Sinhala side had back tracked on some ground or other from past
agreements, expressed their disappointment over the developments
that had brought about an "undesirable situation".
Prabakaran specially mentioned about the safety of his political
cadres in areas under the control of Sri Lankan security forces.
While the meeting with the LTTE ended in a cordial manner,
surprisingly the next day the Norwegian Dy. Foreign Minister
called a press conference and declared Norway’s intention to
keep away from the peace process until the political situation
clears up. He made three points which were all very valid. There
have been criticisms both from the Sri Lanka and the Indian media
on the action of the Norwegians, but it should be remembered that
Norwegians having shown extraordinary patience till now will have
to get assertive some time to ensure that the Sinhala majority
puts their political house in order if they are to proceed with
the peace process in all seriousness. The points were
* The resumption of peace talks is seriously impeded and it
will be much more difficult to sustain it in a political vacuum.
* There is no clarity as to who is holding political
authority and responsibility on behalf of the government to the
continuation of the cease fire agreement and the resumption of
peace negotiations.
* Until such clarity is re-established, there is no space for
further efforts by the Norwegian government to assist the
parties.
The President and Prime Minister met twice on the 12th
and 18th November with their aides.
It was a good sign that the two leaders President Chandrika and
Prime Minister Wickremasinghe were willing to meet and discuss the
current political crisis.
In the first meeting Prime minister Wickremasinghe made the
point that he cannot continue the peace process without the
Defence portfolio under his control and if need be the President
can take over and continue the peace process. The President on the
other hand suggested the formation of a government of
"National reconciliation and reconstruction" with
members from both parties to continue the peace process. No
headway was made in the meeting.
Subsequently informal discussions were held by the Aides of the
two ( which is also a good sign) and some tentative progress was
made in the second meeting. In this meeting it was agreed to
appoint a committee of officials to work out the details of a
future working arrangement under which the President and the Prime
Minister could work together on issues of national importance. It
is still not clear whether the two agreed to have a common
approach to the now stalled peace process. At any rate it is a
good beginning as at least the two leaders are on talking terms!
The SLMM has declared that the Cease fire agreement is still in
place: As expected, while the Norwegians have withdrawn from
the peace process temporarily, the Sri Lankan Monitoring mission
has clarified that the cease fire agreement is still in place and
that the 50 odd members of the team would continue to do their
duties vigorously. Their spokesperson Agnes Bragadottor made this
clear in a conference. On the ground, reports show that the
security forces and the LTTE have continued their internal
meetings and have generally cooperated.
The Buddhist clergy while not taking sides has called for the
formation of a national government to solve the present crisis.
The powerful Malawatte Mahanayake Thera said that all the
political parties including the two major parties should work
together. Prime minister Wickremasinghe is reported to have met
the clergy separately and has assured them that in principle he
would support a national front to revive the stalled peace
process.
The Catholic Bishops have jointly appealed to the President and
the Prime minister and other leaders of political parties to
seriously consider an immediate resolution to the problem through
dialogue and compromise.
Sri Lankan Parliament meets: After the statutory period of
prorogation expired, the Sri Lankan Parliament met today. The
Parliament had to meet to pass the budget but most of the time was
taken up in discussing the prorogation of the parliament by the
President. The Speaker ruled that the action of the President was
undemocratic. He said that the President had no authority to
suspend Parliament without the concurrence of the legislature and
that he would disregard any future attempt to disrupt the
legislature.
Conclusion: We had always maintained that unless the two
major parties come together and make a serious common approach to
the ethnic problem, there could be no peace in the island. We had
also cautioned that if the peace talks were to be derailed it
would be more due to the differences between the two major parties
of the Sinhala community and if the past experience is any
indicator the present cease fire process would also go the same
way as before. One cynic while commenting on the Tamil ethnic
question said that the Tamil problem will be solved either when an
independent ‘Eelam’ is formed or when the last Tamil leaves
the North East for Canada! There is no need here to elaborate on
this issue further.
