SRI LANKA: Prospects for Peace Improve with Holiday Truce

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Dec 21 2001 (IPS) - Driven by a desperate desire for peace, the new government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and Tamil rebels are inching closer to a new round of peace talks.

The new United National Party (UNP) is making all the right statements after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) announced on Wednesday a unilateral one-month truce starting on Christmas eve.

“We welcome the LTTE move and as a goodwill gesture, we will respond to the truce in a few days time,” Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando was quoted as saying in the state-run Daily News on Thursday.

The rebel offer was reported to have been discussed extensively by Wickremasinghe and his ministers at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Political analysts said they were hopeful of a positive breakthrough in the peace process as both sides were making much more conciliatory gestures than before in breaking the ice towards the difficult task of political negotiations and a setting a formula for peace.

“Both sides seem to show some sincerity of purpose,” noted Patrick Amarasinghe, chairman of the National Chamber of Exporters and one of Sri Lanka’s most respected businessmen. He belongs to a group that has been pressing for the resumption of peace talks and an end to the 18- year old war.

Keethish Loganathan, a former politician with the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a local think-tank, said it was interesting that the rebels had not demanded a lifting of the government ban on the LTTE, which has been one of the conditions in previous peace talks.

“Other than a request for a lifting of the economic embargo in rebel-controlled areas in the north, the LTTE has made no mention of de-proscription of the group, which is a very good sign,” he told IPS.

In an official statement, the LTTE said the “unilateral cessation of hostilities” during the festive season was intended to “facilitate and promote initiatives towards a peace process”.

It said it hoped the new government would reciprocate positively by ceasing hostilities and take “immediate steps to remove the economic embargo and other restrictions”. In such a case, the statement quoted the rebels as saying they would consider extending the truce.

The rebels also called a Christmas truce last year and extended it for four months but the then People’s Alliance (PA) government rejected the offer, saying it would be accepted only if the rebels laid down their arms and renounced demands for separation.

The rebels’ gesture came as an olive branch to the UNP, which ousted the ruling PA government in the Dec 5 parliamentary poll, on a platform of peace and promises to revive a tottering economy.

UNP leader Wickremasinghe, now the prime minister, said during the election campaign that the UNP was keen to resume unconditional talks with the rebels and end a conflict that has cost the lives of more than 60,000 people.

The rebel statement said it was encouraged by the “collective mandate for peace and ethnic harmony given by the Sinhala and Tamil masses at the general election (to the UNP)”. The LTTE leadership decided to declare a ceasefire during the festive season of Christmas, New Year and ‘Thai Pongal’ (Hindu Harvest Festival) as a gesture of goodwill, the statement added.

Analysts expect the government to announce a ceasefire probably at the weekend, to be followed by the lifting of restrictions on some food, medicines and general items. They see peace talks resuming anytime in the next three months.

Restrictions have been placed on some items in northern areas controlled by the rebels fearing that the food would be used to feed rebel soldiers while other material would be used for war purposes.

The developments came as Wickremasinghe and his foreign minister prepared for a Dec. 22-24 trip to India to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other leaders and brief them on the peace agenda of the UNP government.

India sent troops to Sri Lanka in 1987 to enforce a peace pact to end the the insurgency. Since around 1991 however, New Delhi has watched with concern as battles raged in Sri Lanka.

Colombo, without seeking India’s help and also because of the Tamil rebels’ reluctance to get the former involved, invited Norway in 1999 as a facilitator in the peace process.

Loganathan said he expected the process to be broken into two phases — negotiations on security and humanitarian issues and the second on a political settlement.

“The first phase could be through Norwegian mediation or even face-to-face talks between the government and the rebels and that is expected to be kick-started soon.”

Norwegian emissaries had been meeting previous government and rebel representatives in an effort to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table.

However, the previous PA government’s preoccupation with trying to survive in the wake of a key ally’s break-away from the shaky coalition that held the regime together, saw the Norwegian-backed effort being put on the backburner since June.

The PA government eventually collapsed, resulting in polls being called earlier this month.

There have been peace talks on at least three occasions since 1983, including one effort in 1995 under the PA government. But all these ended in failure and a resumption in the fighting.

Wickremasinghe, while keen to end the war, is treading with care. He has appointed three ministerial committees to advise him on a political solution, arranging the preparatory work for negotiations and to look for alternative solutions.

“All earlier steps to find a political solution to the crisis failed due to the lack of a strong foundation. Therefore we should study all past experiences and plan the future steps,” a UNP statement quoted the prime minister as saying earlier this week.

Business leader Amarasinghe says the business community, as is the entire nation, is yearning for peace. “People have got hurt, tired of the war. It is affecting society, business. The economy has collapsed and it is all because of the war,” he said.

Business chambers and top Sri Lankan business leaders have launched separate campaigns, spending lavishly on advertising and media promotion, to urge politicians to end the war.

Loganathan said Norway’s involvement in the peace process is fully backed by India, the United States and other European countries. “But when it comes to guaranteeing a political settlement, it would be a role beyond Norway and need the support of the entire international community.”

The rebels, who have been fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of the country for their minority Tamil community, now say they are prepared to discuss devolution of power and regional autonomy instead of separation.

The war has devastated the economy, which is expected to end up this year with zero growth, and shattered the hopes of many Sri Lankans, particularly the once-prosperous business community.

When SriLankaFirst, a peace initiative by the business community, organised a event to hold hands for peace in a human chain some months ago, close to one million people spilled onto the streets to take part in the event.