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 Sri Lanka: Let the talks
begin
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
SATTAHIP, Thailand - The chief negotiators for
both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) struck a conciliatory note - and
delivered verbal bouquets to each other - at Monday's
opening of peace talks to resolve Sri Lanka's
long-running ethnic conflict.
In their opening
statements, the negotiators spoke of a shift in thinking
to resolve the 19-year-old separatist conflict - one
that places greater emphasis on negotiations and
dialogue, rather than violence and military means, as
the way forward.
"We turn our backs on war as an
instrument for realizing the dream of a nation," Gamini
Lakshman Peiris, head of the four-member Sri Lankan
delegation, said at the opening ceremony, held in the
nearby district of Jomtien, a stone's throw from the
popular beach resort of Pattaya. "We renounce war and
embrace negotiations as the key to our island's future,"
he said at the function attended by many diplomats and
hundreds of press. The actual talks will take place in
camera in the naval port of Sattahip.
Anton
Balasingham, chief negotiator of the Tamil Tigers, added
that Tiger leader Velupillai Pirapaharan (who is not at
the talks) shared the same determination to opt for
dialogue rather than war to reach a political
settlement. "As far as the Liberation Tigers are
concerned, I can assure you that we are seriously and
sincerely committed to peace and that we will strive our
utmost to ensure the success of the negotiations,"
Balasingham affirmed.
The talks at Sattahip, 140
kilometers southeast of the capital Bangkok, went into
full swing after the opening ceremony. They are the
first peace in seven years and the fifth round of
negotiations since the conflict exploded into a bloody
war in 1983.
The morning's ceremony also saw the
Sri Lankans articulating a position that would not only
have soothed the ears of the LTTE negotiators, but also
served as a boost toward the peace process itself.
Colombo does not view the current round of negotiations
as "a zero sum exercise", Peiris said during his
prepared statement. "It is not a question of the winner
taking all. Indeed, it is plain for all to see, at this
watershed in the meandering course of a fratricidal
conflict, that there are no winners and no losers."
The Tigers matched this spirit of compromise, by
having Balasingham's statement omit references to the
state of Tamil Eelam, which the LTTE has been fighting
to create in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces.
On Monday, Balasingham only spoke of the LTTE playing "a
leading and pivotal role in administration as well as
the economic development of the northeast".
But
an official from the Norwegian government, which has
been mediating the peace talks, says the process that
lay ahead would be far from smooth, given how bloody the
Sri Lankan conflict had been. "It is likely there will
be setbacks, hiccups, walkouts and breakdowns," said
Vidar Helgesen, Norway's deputy minister of foreign
affairs. "Such incidents should not be seen as signs of
failure. On the contrary, they should be seen as a
success for both parties each time they settle their
differences by heated discussions and not by the heat of
the gun," added Helgesen. The Norwegians stepped into
this intermediary role in 1998, following interest shown
by both the LTTE and Colombo.
Colombo's team for
the talks, in addition to Peiris, include Milinda
Moragoda, minister for economic reforms, Rauff Hakeem,
minister for port development and shipping and leader of
the country's largest Muslim political party, and
Bernard Goonetilleke, director-general of the country's
peace secretariat.
On the LTTE side, in addition
to Balasingham is Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, the Tigers'
legal advisor, Jay Maheswaran, rehabilitation and
development expert and the wife of Anton Balasingham,
Adele, the delegation's secretary. In an effort to
ensure the spirit of equality, the table around which
the negotiators will sit in Sattahip naval base will not
have either the Sri Lanka flag or the Tamil Tiger flag
on display.
The agenda during the 12 hours of
negotiations at the talks, which will run from Monday
until Wednesday morning, is expected to range from the
daily issues that civilians living in the war-ravaged
areas of Sri Lanka face, to broader problems such as
reconstruction, rehabilitation and the refugee problem.
The negotiators are also due to work out the pace and
frequency of future rounds of talks - the next could be
as early as next month - and what the two teams should
address their minds to for each forthcoming encounter.
The more contentious issues that aim to seek a
solution to the political problems between the Sri
Lankan state and the Tigers - such as power sharing and
the amount of it - will come up in later stages of the
talks.
Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict, which arose
as a result of the country's Tamil minority feeling
marginalized by the state that has favored the majority
Sinhalese community since 1956, has resulted in over
64,000 deaths. In addition, nearly two million people
have been forced out of their homes, the majority of
them in the war-ravaged northeast region. Of that
number, one million people are internally displaced and
living in dire circumstances.
Since late
February, the country has enjoyed a seven-month lull in
the war, the longest such period of peace ever. It
follows the formal signing of a ceasefire between
Colombo and the Tigers. "This is the furthest we have
gone in terms of a ceasefire that holds and it has
created a mood of optimism among the people that peace
is possible," says Sunila Abeysekera, a member of the
Peace Support Group, a coalition of Sri Lankan peace
activists and non-governmental organizations.
"I
think the negotiators are under huge pressure due to
this sense of optimism among the people from all
communities," adds Abeysekera, who attended Monday's
ceremony. "There is a clear demand for the continuation
of the peace process."
The last round of
negotiations between the Tigers and the government broke
down in 1995 when the government accused the rebels of
avoiding discussion of substantive political issues.
Thailand, which has appeared keen to play a greater
international role, has arranged tight security for the
talks. No media are allowed to monitor the talks, but a
news conference has been scheduled for Wednesday.
(Inter Press Service)
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One
(little) step forward ... (Sep 14,
'02)
Minorities
voice concerns (Sep 14, '02)
Rights
and peace part of the same
equation (Sep 14, '02)
Painful
history makes India sit out LTTE
talks (Sep 13, '02)
Clearing
the decks on the home front (Sep 13,
'02)
SPECIAL REPORT A
four-part series on the Tamil Tigers by Sudha
Ramachandran (April, '02)
1. 'Towards
the imagined haven of Eelam' (Apr 12, '02)
2.
Selective
roots to Tamil nationalism (Apr 18, '02)
3. Why
the Tigers call the shots (Apr 24, '02)
4. Tigers
show they mean business (May 1, '02)
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