SRI LANKA: Peace Yet Possible

By Amantha Perera Reprint | | Print |

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Apr 27 2006 (IPS) - Despite this week&#39s sensational suicide bomber attack on Sri Lanka&#39s army commander and retaliatory air strikes on Tamil Tiger bases in the north and east of the island, the Norway-brokered peace accord, signed in February 2002, still stands.

After two straight days of bombing and strafing, mostly around the port town of Trincomalee, Thursday saw a lull in punitive operations by the Sri Lankan air force.

Ulf Henricsson, the Swedish head of the Nordic Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that oversees the increasingly shaky truce said the accord remained valid. ‘&#39We still have a valid ceasefire,&#39&#39 he said though he described the events of the week as ‘&#39serious violations&#39&#39.

The rebels counted 12 people dead and 27 others injured in the strikes launched in retaliation for Wednesday&#39s attack on Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, seriously injuring the army chief and 27 other people. Ten persons were killed by the blast within the high-security army headquarters located in the heart of the capital.

Although the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the Tigers are officially known, have refused to comment on the attack there was little doubt that the suicide bomber, disguised as a pregnant woman, was a member of the group&#39s deadly ‘Black Tiger&#39 suicide squad.

According to statement released by the Tigers 40,000 people have fled their homes in the north and east as a result of the retaliatory air strikes and artillery shelling.

While this week has seen the worst violations yet of the ceasefire, trouble has been brewing ever since the election in November of a nationalist coalition, headed by President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is backed by pro-Sinhala groups that have been demanding military action against the Tigers.

&#39&#39That the LTTE has unilaterally broken all the efforts towards peace that our government launched, amidst considerable obstacles, has now been accepted by the entire international community, and all people who favour peace. Considering this acceptance as fact, I wish to first emphasise that our government is ready to face any challenge,&#39&#39 Rajapakse said in an address to the nation hours after the blast.

Rajapakse is under pressure form his hawkish allies to reconsider continuing his government&#39s pro-negotiation policy. ‘&#39Friends, no type of terrorism will frighten me. Similarly I accept the challenge that we face," he said during his address.

"We have a decision to make as a nation that we unite to defeat terrorism," parliamentary leader of the People&#39s Liberation Front ( PLF) Wimal Weeravansha, one of Rajapakse&#39s hardline allies, said.

The PLF does not support a federal solution to the ethnic problem that was agreed to in principle by the previous government. The Tigers have indicated during the ceasefire that they were willing to consider a federal power sharing agreement.

Ethnic strife between the Sinhala Buddhist majority – that forms 73 percent of Sri Lanka&#39s 20 million population – and the ethnic Tamils goes back to fifth and sixth century invasions of the island by Tamil kingdoms based on mainland India.

Over the last two decades more than 65,000 people have died in fighting led by the Tigers to carve out a separate homeland for the Tamils on the island on the grounds that the ethnic minority suffered severe discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese.

The Norwegians tried on several occasions to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table. In January they succeeded in reopening direct talks after a three-year hiatus but the two sides quickly fell back to bickering and trading of charges.

Apart from the new government&#39s opposition to a federal structure an immediate concern for the LTTE was the fact that a large armed splinter faction had found sanctuary in government-held areas in the east from where they have been launching attacks on the Tigers.

After the first round of talks in Geneva, the government had agreed to disarm the group led by renegade leader ‘Col. Karuna&#39 but then failed to act, under pressure from the army and from pro-Sinhala political groups in Colombo.

Since early April, 88 persons have been killed, including 54 armed forces personnel. Communal riots broke out in Trincomalee two weeks ago and the killings continued into the weekend.

‘&#39Presently, civilians are constantly targeted, by murderous Sri Lankan armed forces and its paramilitaries. We understand this as a devious plot by the government of Sri Lanka to enrage the people and thus wipe out any chance of maintaining the ceasefire agreement,&#39&#39 said Tiger political head S.P. Tamilselvan in a letter to Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer on Tuesday.

‘&#39It is duplicitous of the government to pretend that it is dedicated to the peace process on the one hand and on the other hand let the paramilitaries loose to carry out unbridled violence. International community must realize this and condemn the government duplicity," Tamilselvan said in his letter.

Another LTTE statement, on Wednesday, complained about the air strikes. ‘&#39While the government has openly declared war, and is carrying out these reprehensible murders of Tamil civilians, the international community is turning a blind eye.&#39&#39

Both the Tigers and the Sri Lankan government regularly make appeals against each other to the international community. Equally, both sides threaten each other with war.

Thursday&#39s lull in air strikes was, however, undisturbed by reports of the deaths of five Sri Lankan armed forces personnel in separate claymore mine attacks in the north.