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SRI LANKA: Norway in No Hurry to Resume Mediation

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Jul 4 2007 (IPS) - While much store is being set by the prospect of Norway returning to its key role as mediator between the nationalist government of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and ethnic Tamil rebels, indications are that the Scandinavians are in no hurry.

Norwegian embassy spokesman Erik Nurenberg told IPS on Tuesday that there were no immediate plans for a visit to the Tamil-dominated north and east of the island by special peace envoy Johann Hansen Bauer as reported. "There are no such plans, all the reports are speculation," Nurenberg said.

Diplomatic sources indicated that a visit would be possible in the coming months if ground conditions improve, but the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they would like to see efforts at confidence building on the part of the government first. "The government needs to first win the confidence of the north and east populations before there can be any idea of talks," Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Illanthariyan said.

Several attempts at reviving dialogue by the Norwegians and others, including Japan, have failed with Norwegian ambassador to Colombo Hans Bratskkar haveing to cancel two planned trips to the Tiger political headquarters of Kilinochchi because the government failed to give security guarantees.

The latest initiative by the government, to get the Norwegians back into the picture, follows months of fighting that has left hundreds of people dead and pushed the country back to the worst days of the ethnic conflcit.

Heavily armed soldiers patrol the cities and checkpoints have been established at all entry points to the capital Colombo. The country’s sole international airport recommenced night operations at the beginning of July after a two-month suspension due to Tiger air raids.

Violence has been on the rise since December 2005 and, according to the United Nations Human Rights Council, three million citizens have been affected, 500,000 forced out of their homes and over 4,000 killed. The toll has added to the over 65,000 people killed in more than two decades of sectarian strife since the early 1980s.

A ceasefire brokered by Norway in February 2002 lies in tatters and the two sides have not held any talks since late 2003. Talks scheduled for August last year collapsed even before the two sides walked into the conference room in Geneva.

Though, over the last fortnight, there has been a reduction in the fighting, there is no guarantee that it will not suddenly escalate. "There is no environment for talks at the moment," said Illanthariyan.

According to the Scandinavian Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), tension prevailed in the both the north and east. "Daily artillery fire of varying degrees towards the Poonaryn area has been observed throughout the week,’’ the SLMM’s latest situation report said. In one sea battle mid-June, the government reported that its forces had killed 40 LTTE cadres and captured a large Sea Tiger vessel off the coast of Jaffna.

Violence has been on the rise since August when government forces and LTTE cadres began engaging in frontal clashes. Since Aug. 11, northern Jaffna peninsula has been cut off by land due to the closure of the A9 highway.

Given this background, the invitation extended by the government to the Norwegians to visit the Tiger political headquarters seems out of tune to many observers. "It is out of character with the status quo, there does not seem to be an attitudinal change on either side,’’ Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo-based independent peace group said. ‘’The ground situation does not suggest any changes, it has all been verbal."

Others feel that the armed clashes need to halt for any success at talks. "There should definitely be a cessation of hostilities if there is to be any improvement on the ground and any hope for dialogue to move forward," SLMM spokesman Tofinnuir Omrasson said. He, however, admitted that it was easier said than done. ‘’Reality may be different, but we can still hope."

The Tigers said that they felt the government’s latest overtures were influenced by international pressure. At a donor co-chair meeting, last week, attended by the U.S., European Union, Japan and Norway, in Oslo, a decision had been reached to bring pressure on the government to allow the Norwegians to visit the Tigers.

Sri Lanka also featured prominently in the recent U.N. Security Council meeting on the protection of civilians in armed conflict where delegates urged more assertive action from the Council. "Men, women and children continued to be the deliberate targets of warring parties and terrorist entities in Darfur, Afghanistan, northern Uganda, Lebanon, Somalia and Sri Lanka, among other areas.’’

A recent report by the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group, called the international response to Sri Lanka&#39s abysmal human rights record as "disjointed, lacklustre and tardy."

The Tigers say it pressure of this type that is pushing the government rather than a genuine desire to end the violence. "The government says it is ready for talks due to the pressure exerted by the international community. It is not doing it on its own will. Everyone knows what the government did the last time the two parties met in Geneva," Illanthariyan said.

At the NPC, Perera said words alone were insufficient to break the impasse, and the onus lay with the government to make a change. "A cessation of all ongoing hostilities is a must. The government should try to bring forward new proposals at power sharing that would be more accommodative. At the moment it looks as if everything is rhetoric, but I hope it changes soon."