SRI LANKA: Tamil Tigers Scale Down Demand for Homeland

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

SATTAHIP, Thailand, Sep 18 2002 (IPS) - The Tamil Tiger rebels gave the peace process a real shot at success at the end of their three-day talks with Sri Lankan officials Wednesday, by scaling down their long-time demand for a separate state.

“The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) doesn’t operate according to the concept of a separate state,” Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator for the Tamil Tiger rebels, said at press conference in nearby Jomtien town as the talks drew to a close Wednesday.

“We operate according to concepts and categories that are entirely different,” he added. “We operate according to the concept of a homeland and self-determination. Homeland doesn’t mean separate state as such.”

“Saying that the LTTE is fighting for an independent state has no relevance,” he stressed.

This position is a marked departure from the stance maintained by the LTTE during the almost two-decades-long conflict in Sri Lanka that it has waged for a separate homeland for minority Tamils.

Signs of this shift were evident even on Monday at the start of the face-to-face talks at Sattahip naval base here: There was no reference by Balasingham to Tamil Eelam, the name of the Tamil state the Tigers have long fought for, during his opening address.

There were other signs too at Wednesday’s press conference that confirmed that the first round of talks had ended on a high note, with certain issues resolved.

For instance, the Tigers and Sri Lankan officials agreed to meet for further talks and expressed willingness to engage with each other at an informal level.

“I have enjoyed meeting and working with Dr Balasingham,” Gamini Lakshman Peiris, minister of constitutional affairs and Colombo’s chief negotiator at the talks, told the press.

“That is a very important part of this process, for people to build up confidence, rapport,” he said. “Apart from the formal sessions, we have had a series of conversations. We have understood each other’s points of view.”

“Throughout this process we are very conscious of the fact that if we have to achieve success, we have to understand each other’s anxieties, concerns, and we have to be sensitive to the problems of the other side,” Peiris said.

As expected, the negotiators agreed to resolve some of the pressing problems faced by civilians living in the war-affected northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, like the problem of clearing landmines and accommodating people displaced by the conflict.

The number of anti-personnel mines in Sri Lanka’s north-eastern region is estimated to be between 1 to 1.5 million, and reports of civilians stepping on them occur with regularity.

In a statement it circulated as peace broker for the talks, the Norwegian government said: “Two immediate priorities for the parties are stepping up humanitarian mine action and accelerating the resettlement and rehabilitation of internally displaced people.”

Since 1983, more than 60,000 people have died in Sri Lanka’s civil war. Close to two million people have been affected by the war – one million have been displaced and some one million have left for overseas.

According to a statement they issued Wednesday, the two sides agreed to create a joint committee to deal with “issues relating to High Security Zones” – the conflict-affected areas in Sri Lanka’s north-east – to enable the return of displaced persons.

The committee will consist of senior representatives of both sides, including military personnel, the statement added.

The negotiators also agreed to establish a Joint Task Force for Humanitarian Reconstruction Activities.

This body will have representatives from the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers in its ranks, and “will have responsibility for the identification, financing and monitoring of urgent humanitarian and reconstruction activities in the north and east”.

Both negotiating teams, according to the Norwegians, view the creation of the joint task forces as a reflection of an “increasing level of trust” between them.

In a further indicator that they are prepared to continue down the road toward peace, Sri Lankan and Tamil negotiators confirmed the schedule of their next three rounds of talks at the Sattahip base — Oct. 31 to Nov. 3, Dec. 2 to 5 this year and Jan. 6 to 9 in 2003.

This first round of talks, which lasted for 12 hours, beginning Monday afternoon and ending Wednesday morning, did not delve into the thornier political issues involving the exact nature and form of power sharing in the future.

Ahead of this week’s talks, there had been discussion of a proposal for an interim, Tiger-led administration in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

Also not part of this round of talks, but which could come in later rounds, is the settlement of a timetable for the decommissioning of weapons held by the LTTE, should the rebels give up violence as a means of achieving their objectives for the minority Tamils.

“Decommissioning and disarming will only be discussed later on,” Balasingham said. “This issue will not arise until we reach a permanent settlement that will satisfy the aspirations of the Tamil people.”

Colombo’s chief negotiator agreed that a staggered approach is the way to go. “We have to go step by step. This process will only succeed if we do so,” said Peiris.

Erik Solheim, Norway’s special envoy for the Sri Lankan peace process, feels likewise, saying that substantive matters will be included in the agenda of future discussions.

“There were no signs of acrimony during the discussions and the informal conversations afterwards,” he told IPS after the talks ended. “There were good vibes.”