Asia Times: Thailand looks for Sri Lankan windfall


	March 29, 2002	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Thailand looks for Sri Lankan windfall
By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK - Thailand's reputation as a neutral player on the global stage strengthens its case as an ideal venue for the first round of imminent peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

On Tuesday, a ranking member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the Tamil rebels are formally known, virtually confirmed reports doing the rounds in Colombo's diplomatic and government circles that Thailand was the chosen venue. There has been no official announcement of the venue for the talks as yet. But the statement by Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's chief negotiator, that Thailand is the preferred venue for peace talks put to rest speculation that Sri Lanka's closest neighbors - India and the Maldives - would host the discussions that will attempt to end the over two decades of ethnic conflict in the South Asian island nation.

Balasingham returned to Sri Lanka this week from England, where he has been living in self-imposed exile for three years. His arrival is expected to spur the preparations being made by the recently elected United National Front (UNF) government in Colombo and the Tamil Tiger leadership for the talks, which could begin early in May.

"Face-to-face discussions can be expected in the first week of May," a Sri Lankan government spokesman said on Wednesday. "Both sides agree that the time is opportune to commence negotiations. All prerequisites for talks will be considered, other than the demand for a separate state - which is not negotiable," he added.

Hopes for peace were strengthened for the first time in seven years after the government and the LTTE signed a ceasefire accord on February 22.

While Norway's role also matters, given the Scandinavian country's peace-brokering efforts at conflict resolution, it is Colombo that would make any formal request to Bangkok to permit the peace talks to be held in Thailand.

Thai foreign policy experts are already beaming at the diplomatic windfall that lies ahead for the country as host of the talks. "It will help boost Thailand's image and affirm our credentials as a country willing to help the cause of international peace," says Chayachoke Chulasiriwongs, head of the international relations department at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

For Panitan Wattanayagorn, another foreign affairs specialist at the same university, the peace talks will fit in with the vision Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has for the country's foreign policy during his administration. "Thaksin stated in parliament that he wants to make Thailand a more visible player in international affairs. And the Sri Lankan peace talks will be ideal," Panitan explains.

This political chapter, which awaits writing, will contribute to Thailand's effort to strengthen Bangkok's reputation as a citadel of diplomacy and international affairs in Asia, or as "the Geneva of the East", as one Asian diplomat described it.

Thailand, of course, has been down this road before. Peace talks to end the Cambodian conflict were held in the country in the 1980s. A few years back, it was the venue for talks between the Indian government and the Naga rebel movement. The last Thai government even made an attempt to offer Thailand as the venue for a reconciliation effort between North and South Korea.

This is not the first time that Thailand's name has surfaced to play a part in resolving the Sri Lankan conflict, where the Tamil Tigers have been battling the government troops in their bid to establish a Tamil state of Eelam in the island's north and east. The war has resulted in more than 60,000 deaths. "In 1999 there was an attempt to arrange peace talks between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government," says Kavi Chongkittavorn, managing editor of the independent English-language daily The Nation.

On that occasion, Colombo had "unofficially" approached Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Thailand's deputy foreign affairs minister at the time, to help prepare the ideal conditions for such talks.

The long religious ties between Thailand and Sri Lanka are among the reasons why Colombo feels confident with Bangkok as the host of peace talks on the Tamil conflict. Both Thailand and Sri Lanka have majorities following the Theravada line of Buddhism, and centuries ago Thai Buddhism was instrumental in helping Sri Lanka establish one of its respected Buddhist chapters.

Also, a bond has grown between the two governments since news reports appeared a few years back saying that the Tamil Tigers were using islands in southern Thailand, better known for tourist resorts, as transit points to ship arms and ammunition for the LTTE armory in Sri Lanka. "It prompted the Thai authorities to investigate and for the first time collaborate with the Sri Lankan government," affirms Kavi. "During the past three years both governments have exchanged intelligence and increased their cooperation."

This policy marks a clear shift from the hitherto attitude of Thailand toward foreign rebel and militant groups using the country as a safe haven for their logistic work. "For years Thailand turned a blind eye on foreign militant groups," Kavi adds. "The Thai government tolerated their presence as long as they did not harm Thai people."

Since the 1920s, Thailand has hosted movements fighting for independence in neighboring Vietnam and Laos, and even from Indonesia.

The Tamil Tigers, too, have endorsed the idea of Thailand hosting the talks for good reason. First, chief negotiator Balasingham's fragile health due to failing kidneys necessitates a venue with sound health facilities. Thailand's medical care fits the bill.

Second, there is enough proximity between Thailand and the Tamil Tiger command center in the Vanni, in northern Sri Lanka, which is home to the LTTE's reclusive leader Velupillai Prabakaran. Balasingham and the Tiger leadership have insisted that the Norwegian-brokered peace talks be held in a place close enough for Balasingham to confer with Prabakaran.

Moreover, there is also the link that the Tigers established in Thailand prior to Bangkok's efforts to curb the LTTE's arms shipment activity. Thailand was a major operating base for Kumaran Pathmanathan, the LTTE's chief procurement officer. In fact, a Sri Lankan political insider says that it was the LTTE, rather than Colombo, which floated the idea of the first round of peace talks taking place in Thailand, suggesting how comfortable the rebel leadership felt with the country.

This occurred after the Indian government turned down a call by the Tigers to have the talks in southern India.

Ketheshwaran Loganathan is hardly surprised that the Tigers are pushing to have this fifth attempt to resolve the Sri Lankan conflict in a foreign environment. It ensures the LTTE a level of equality in any negotiations, says Loganathan, a conflict resolution expert at the Center for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based research body. "One cannot expect the LTTE to come down to Colombo for talks with the government at this juncture. That would have been perceived as coming from a position of weakness," Loganathan explains.

Norway's role in resolving Sri Lanka's conflict emerged in 2000. It followed a show of interest by Colombo for a Norwegian-brokered peace deal during secret talks the Sri Lankan government had with Norwegian officials in Geneva. Norwegian officials had suggested Oslo as a venue for the talks, says a Sri Lankan political insider. But the logistics and expenses involved became an issue, so the matter was left to the two parties in the conflict to decide. "So it appears they are comfortable with Thailand," says the insider.

(Inter Press Service)