Development Is Key to Continued Sri Lankan Peace - PM

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 20 (IPS) - Economic development in parts of the country devastated by 20 years of bloody civil war will be key to maintaining harmony as peace talks continue, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told reporters Friday.

The leader visited the United Nations in New York two days after the highly successful first stage of peace talks between the government and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"We need money to get things moving," Wickremesinghe said. "Economic reconstruction and development of the affected areas will be a deciding factor in sustaining the momentum of political negotiations."

Arguing that peace is "people driven", Wickremesinghe said the conflict had dragged the Sri Lankan economy to near bankruptcy and last year, for the first time, the country recorded negative growth.

"Resources must flow into developing the areas ravaged by war. And opportunities should be created," he added.

Wickremesinghe said that some of the politically sensitive issues, including self-determination and political autonomy for Tamil minorities, will be lower down the peace agenda.

The LTTE "have dropped their demand for a separate state in favour of self determination within Sri Lanka", he said. "Now it is up to us in the south to come with the answer," he added.

The long-drawn-out military conflict has claimed the lives of over 80,000 people. A cease-fire, which came into effect in February this year, has been followed by peace talks between the government and the LTTE.

At the first round of peace talks in Thailand early this week, the LTTE, described as one of the world's deadliest guerrilla groups, said it no longer advocates the concept of a separate state.

"We operate within the concept of a homeland and self-determination," LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham said at the conclusion of the three-day peace talks in Thailand on Wednesday.

Asked about the possibility of a potential dispute on how to define "homeland" and "self-determination", the leader of the Sri Lanka delegation to the peace talks, G.L. Peiris, told reporters Friday that discussions on key political issues have been deferred to the final rounds of the talks later this year.

"They want us to concentrate on issues that make a tangible difference in the lives of the common people," he added.

These issues include rebuilding infrastructure - including schools and roads - and reconstruction of the war-ravaged economy.

Bradman Weerakoon, senior adviser to Wickremesinghe, told reporters that the United Nations and its relief agencies are leading rehabilitation and relief efforts in Sri Lanka, with an initial investment of about 25 million dollars.

According to preliminary estimates, he said, Sri Lanka needs about 500 million dollars to rebuild what was lost to war. The bulk of it is expected to come from Western donors, including the United States, Britain, Japan and the Scandinavian countries.

Weerakoon said the military conflict in Sri Lanka also resulted in 200,000 internally displaced families, who desperately need assistance.

At one thousand dollars per family, he said, Sri Lanka needs about 200 million dollars just to meet the humanitarian needs of these families.

Wickremesinghe said reconstruction would be one of the government's major tasks. "We have large parts of the country - including towns and villages - completely destroyed."

Peiris said the LTTE has agreed to enter into a partnership with the government to rebuild the economy.

"There is no hostility and no antagonism. This is a very powerful message to the international community".

This was the first time, he added, that Sri Lanka was entering into an economic partnership with the LTTE.

The war has also been a heavy drain on the country's meagre economic resources. Sri Lanka has been spending an average of 700 to 800 million dollars every year on its military.

Asked whether the peace initiative would result in a decline in military spending, Wickremesinghe said the "reduction will be gradual".

As part of the confidence building measures, the government will gradually phase out its heavy expenditures on weapons purchases.

"I will have to keep paying until 2008 for arms we have already purchased," he said.

The LTTE, which is known for its trademark suicide bombings, has also captured hundreds and thousands of dollars in arms from the Sri Lankan armed forces during the fighting.

"We are not only paying for arms we have purchased but also for those taken by the LTTE," Wickremesinghe said. "At one time, they were firing artillery at us, and we were still paying for that artillery," he added amidst laughter. (END/IPS/WD/IP/TD/ML/02)