SRI LANKA: Geneva Process With Tamil Tigers Falters

By Amantha Perera Reprint | | Print |

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Mar 7 2006 (IPS) - A flare-up of violence in Sri Lanka’s volatile east and impatience with Norwegian mediation from pro-Sinhala political parties are threatening to derail peace negotiations between the government and Tamil Tiger representatives in Geneva.

Barely two weeks after the first round of the Geneva negotiations concluded on Feb. 23, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the Tamil Tigers are officially known, have had two of its cadres attacked and killed by suspected members of a splinter faction that is said to be backed by the government.

On Tuesday, Wimal Weeravansha, leader in parliament of the People’s Liberation Front (PLF), which helped President Mahinda Rajapakse win elections in November demanded that the government review Norway’s role in the peace process. “We should not continue to keep as the facilitator, Norway, which plays a dubious role betraying our motherland,” he said.

The attack, on Mar. 4, took place in Vavunathivu, near Batticaloa town, stronghold of a government-supported faction of the LTTE, led by its former commander in the east, Vinayagarmoorthi Muralitharan, also known as Karuna. The Tigers said the assailants had run towards a Sri Lankan army after the shooting. However, the army denied any responsibility.

The incident was typical of manoeuverings on the ground that run counter to the joint statement issued at Geneva whereby the government undertook not to support any armed group other than its own security forces in the Tamil-dominated north and east provinces. In return, the Tigers pledged not to attack troops.

Until the Feb. 22-23 talks in Geneva, peace negotiations were stalled since the Tigers pulled out in April 2003. However, a Norwegian facilitated ceasefire has largely held since February 2002 and the two sides pledged to abide by it in Geneva.

Since 1983, the Tigers have been waging a civil war, aimed at securing for the 3.2 million minority Tamils a separate homeland in the north and east of the island which was halted by the ceasefire. More than 65,000 have died in the hostilities.

Karuna, who broke ranks with the LTTE in 2004 and crossed over to the government side along with 6,000 men, has been a major concern for the LTTE. The result of this defection is that the LTTE has had to stop political work in the government-held areas in the east and pull out loyal cadres.

The Tigers accuse the government and its security forces of aiding the renegades, and highlighted this issue in a document handed over to the government delegation at the conclusion of the Geneva talks.

Soon after last week’s attack, the Tigers said that if attacks on their cadres continued, they might rethink attending the next round of talks scheduled for April. ”The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission clearly said that the attack on Vavunathivu was carried out from a government-controlled area. There have also been attacks on students in the north. These kinds of activities will definitely affect future talks. The LTTE has not taken up any stand about the next round of talks at the moment but it all depends on how the situation progresses,” media coordinator Daya Master said from the Tiger political headquarters in Kilinochchi.

The violence has led observers to feel that there is minimal chance for the Geneva agreements to be implemented. ”I doubt the agreements in the joint statement can be realistically implemented on the ground. The government does not have the capacity to tame the Karuna group. Besides, the LTTE is unlikely to completely cease violence, particularly due to their need to ensure the victory of their proxies at the local government elections on Mar. 30,” Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, a Colombo-based researcher on the conflict told IPS.

Before last month’s talks, the ceasefire had been pushed to its brink by a wave of violence that killed more than 120 persons, including 80 security forces personnel and scores of civilians in the north and east during a one and a half month period. Even after Geneva, differences persist between the two sides on fundamental issues discussed at the talks.

The government claimed that the Tigers had indicated willingness at Geneva to amend the truce agreement signed four years ago. The claim statement led chief Tiger negotiator Anton Balasingham to react saying that changes to the agreement would not be entertained since both sides had formally accepted it.

Meanwhile, newly installed President Mahinda Rajapakse, who sees the revival of negotiations as a triumph, now faces criticism from hardline allies that are threatening to pull out support, if he does not get tough with the Tigers.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya, a party represented in parliament by Buddhist monks, said this week that if the truce was not amended it would consider withdrawing support, as did the PLF which, in a statement, said that it believes that ”the only way to keep the LTTE at the negotiating table is to strengthen the armed forces”.

Both of these pro-Sinhala parties have been critical of the Norwegian role and of the joint-statement issued at Geneva. Before the talks, Rajapakse’s government suggested replacing the special Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim.

A Swedish national is expected to take over from Solheim as head of the truce monitors next month, and this is being seen as a validation of the criticism against the Norwegians.