Tiger Rebels' Suspension of Talks Shows Fear -Analysts

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Apr 22 (IPS) - A sudden decision by the Tamil Tigers to suspend its participation in the seven-month old peace talks with the Sri Lankan government came as no surprise to political commentators here, who believe it is an arm-twisting exercise by the rebels.

''It is a way of extracting concessions from the government (and the international community),'' said the editor of a Tamil-language newspaper, who declined to be named. ''They (LTTE) also fear they are being marginalised in the whole phase of collecting funds for the reconstruction of the war-torn northern and eastern areas.''

In a Monday letter to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Tamil Tiger chief negotiator Dr Anton Balasingham said they have decided to suspend participation in the peace negotiations for the time being.

''We will not be attending the donor conference in Japan in June. While we regret that we were compelled to make this painful decision, we wish to reiterate our commitment to seek a negotiated political solution to the ethnic question,'' Balasingham said, referring to the Tigers' nearly two decade-old quest for a separate homeland for the country's minority Tamils.

As a result of the move by the Tamil Tigers of Liberation Eelam (LTTE), as the Tigers are formally called, the Apr. 29 round of talks in Thailand has been postponed.

The rebels' suspension of the talks was triggered by its exclusion from an Apr. 14 conference of donor countries held in Washington, jointly organised by the U.S. State Department and the Sri Lankan government.

The event, which drew more than 30 countries and international lending agencies, was in preparation for the Tokyo donor forum in June, which is expected to come up with a financial package of not less than 3 billion dollars for reconstruction efforts in Sri Lanka.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said the LTTE was not invited to the Washington meeting because it remains on the list of banned terrorist groups in the United States. For the Tigers to be removed from that list, they must unequivocally renounce terrorism in word and deed, he said.

But the rebels blamed the Sri Lankan government for the crisis. ''The government, as well as our facilitator Norway, is fully aware of the fact that the United States has legal constraints to invite representatives of a proscribed organisation to their country,'' Balasingham said.

''In these circumstances, an appropriate venue could have been selected to facilitate the LTTE to participate in this important preparatory aid conference,'' he said, pointing out that the government and the LTTE had agreed to work together and approach the international community in partnership.

The last time a similar donor meeting was held in Oslo on Nov. 25, 2002, the LTTE was a key participant and Armitage was present at that meeting.

Jehan Perera, a respected political commentator and a director at the National Peace Council (NPC), a private foreign-funded peace promoter, said he believed the success of the Washington summit had worried the rebels, who fear they are being marginalised internationally while Colombo's hand is being strengthened.

''The LTTE knew two weeks ago they had not been invited, but chose not to pull out of talks then. So why did they take a decision two weeks later?'' he asked. ''To my mind it was the success of the Washington (where donors praised the Sri Lankan government and promised a lot of support) that has now worried the Tigers.''

Perera said the Tigers fear they may be losing control of the peace process, while Sri Lankan government negotiators are busy getting support for reconstruction and development overseas.

Colombo negotiators Gamini Peiris and Milinda Moragoda are constantly overseas meeting global leaders and whipping up support, politically and financially, for the peace efforts. Both ministers returned to Sri Lanka early on Tuesday after a similar, peace-building trip.

Bernard Goonatilleke, head of the government's peace secretariat, said that they were not unduly worried about the Tigers move and that it was most unlikely that the group would pull out completely from the peace process.

The government and the rebels began an unofficial ceasefire in late December 2001, soon after Wickremesinghe's United National Party won parliamentary polls. The truce was formalised a few months later, and formal talks began in September.

Despite hiccups along the way as both sides accused the other of violations, the talks have continued in different capitals, guided by Norway as the main facilitator.

Government officials said Norwegian facilitators and Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special representative for peace building and rehabilitation and coordinator of the Tokyo donor meeting, are likely to be in Sri Lanka this week. They are expected to meet Wickremesinghe and his advisors, as well as LTTE representatives, in an effort to resolve the dispute.

Other commentators said the LTTE move could be a diversionary tactic from last week's clashes between Tamils and Muslims in the eastern town of Mutur, which left at least four dead and scores wounded. The rebels have been blamed for abducting two young Muslim businessmen, an incident that triggered the riots.

They said another possible ploy was to force the government to accept a proposal by the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission for the government to recognise the Sea Tigers, a naval arm of the rebels, and allow it undisturbed access in the northern and eastern seas, in an effort to avoid clashes with Sri Lankan navy ships.

Balasingham also said the government had failed to implement parts of the ceasefire agreement, like moving out government military camps from civilian areas and non-military buildings and freeing hitherto civilian areas now dominated by military camps to allow the return of displaced people. (END/2003)