Peace Negotiators Identify Touchy Issues Ahead

by Suvendrini Kakuchi

HAKONE, Japan, Mar 21 (IPS) - Overshadowed by the war in Iraq halfway across the world, Sri Lanka's peace negotiators pushed hard to end four days of difficult peace talks in this mountain resort on an optimistic note on Friday.

While no major breakthrough was made, the two sides, who are negotiating an end to a 19-year-old rebellion for a homeland for minority Tamils, discussed key issues to tackle in the future - looking into human rights issues in the north and east, the areas most affected by the conflict, and the devolution of power in the governance of rebel-held areas.

"The talks in Hakone are a refreshing example of how two parties been at war for so long are seeking agreements for a peaceful solution," Gamini Lakshman Peiris, Sri Lanka's chief peace negotiator, said at a wrap-up press conference in this city 70 km west of Tokyo.

Anton Balasingham, head of the negotiating team of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE), as the Tamil Tigers are formally known, echoed similarly deep commitment for a peaceful solution on the part of the rebel group.

"We have known the horrors and realities of war and we have renounced war to pursue the path of peace. We consider war a tragic event in the history of the world," he said.

"No breakthroughs this time,'' Erik Solheim, representative of the Norwegian government that is mediating the peace talks, said, indicating that the going from will remain tough for the process.

''There has to be a lot of hard work and there will be many more sessions of hard work before we get to a settlement,'' he added here.

The Sri Lankan government and Tiger rebels also set the date for the seventh round of talks in Thailand on Apr. 29-May 2. It will be followed by a donors' meeting hosted by Japan on Jun. 9-10, called the Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development in Sri Lanka.

Concrete progress in the talks is linked to this conference, organised mainly by Japan, the United States, Norway and Europe.

The eight round of talks will also be hosted by Japan, which in recent months has been taking a more active role in reconstruction and humanitarian concerns in conflict areas in Asia, ranging from Aceh to Sri Lanka.

This week, the World Bank formally launched the North-East Reconstruction Fund.

Human rights activists have been lobbying for the promotion of an intensive human rights report developed by Ian Martin, former secretary general of Amnesty International, as part of the peace process.

Activists also want this to include the rights of Muslims, who comprise 7 percent of Sri Lanka's 19.6 million population, and who have had a tense relationship with the Tigers Sri Lanka's north and eastern province during the conflict. There are over 70,000 Muslims from the north seeking to be resettled after they were driven out at gunpoint by the LTTE in 1990.

At the end of the talks here however, a compromise on the rights issue was reached by the two sides, reflected in the final statement issued Friday.

The document reported that the parties decided to ask Martin to develop three aspects of a proposed road map for adoption at the April talks.

This plan would include the drafting of a Declaration of Human Rights and Humanitarian Principles that reflect aspects of fundamental international human rights and a training programme on human rights for LTTE cadres and government officials, police and prison officials.

The joint statement also said the LTTE will set up a political affairs committee consisting of 21 cadres to undertake an intensive study of federalism over the next three months to build up the Tigers' political transformation into a civilian organisation.

Discussions on the sharing of power under a federal system were held on Thursday, along with ideas on revenue sharing between the central government and the Tamil areas that are envisioned when the Tamils are given autonomy.

In a separate statement, Balasingham pledged the LTTE's support for holding local elections in the north and east, clearing the way for democratic elections in the area.

"We have decided to support all the political parties and encourage free and fair elections in the north," he said, in remarks that underscore a difference from the past when the Tigers were known for stamping out dissent in their areas.

Japan, host of the talks, joined the talks formally at Hakone and is focusing on economic and humanitarian issues. Its entry also boosts the prospect of Sri Lanka getting much-needed funds for the reconstruction of the war-torn areas, and the rest of the island nation.

Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, said he has seen that "both parties have tackled concrete issues with a sense of vision and encouragement", signalling their increased stakes in keeping the peace process going. "The donor community will be happy (with the talks in Hakone)," he said.

At the same time, he said that the breaking out of war in Iraq on Thursday, means " we face some competition where assistance is needed''.

"But I feel Sri Lanka should stand out as a shining example to say farewell to destruction and suffering. Japan feels encouraged to join in future steps necessary to place Sri Lanka peace progress on more solid ground," he told journalists.

Ahead of the June conference, Peiris will go to Washington next month to meet with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Perhaps the more important sign of progress this time around was the success in preventing a breakdown in the talks, which began Mar. 18 on the tense note of a sea clash between LTTE and the Navy in Mullativu, eastern Sri Lanka, earlier in March.

Eleven Tiger rebels were killed after the navy sank an LTTE merchant ship off the coast of Mulative, eastern Sri Lanka, and the rebels had accused Colombo of violating the ongoing truce and threatened not to come to the Hakone talks. (END/IPS/AP/IP/SK/JS/03)