Almost two weeks after taking office, President Mahinda Rajapakse has finally taken the most basic step towards a peaceful solution: inviting Norway to resume facilitating a dialogue between his government and the LTTE. The new government in Oslo was the first international actor to congratulate the new President and offer its good offices in ending Sri Lanka’s protracted and agonizing conflict. But Mr. Rajapakse has ignored the outstretched hand and snubbed Norway in his inaugural speech. And it is only amid the erupting violence in Army controlled Jaffna that he relented and sought Norway’s help. By contrast the Liberation Tigers requested the new government in Oslo to facilitate talks as far back as October. President Rajapakse has prevaricated and fumbled, trying to find alternatives to Norway – but none has been forthcoming.

During his election campaign, Mr. Rajapske – and especially his Sinhala nationalist allies, the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) and the JHU – repeatedly lambasted and denigrated Norway’s efforts to promote peace in Sri Lanka. In the past, Norway’s diplomats have been subject to racial and communal slurs whilst aspersions have been cast on their country’s intentions and integrity. This mindset, from a Tamil perspective, is an integral part of the conflict. The insistence on a third party to broker talks remains a Tamil one; the Sinhala-dominated state has, jealously guarding a misguided notion of its sovereignty, long resisted ‘external’ involvement – unless, of course, it was to help crush the Tigers. The LTTE, an armed non-state actor, is well aware of international interests in Sri Lanka’s conflict and any political solution to it. Yet the Tigers have embraced the Norwegian role and, despite some misgivings, international involvement in it. Indeed it is not the internationalization of the conflict, but ‘over-internationalization’ – the foisting of external preferences - that they have resisted.

Norway’s assistance has never been more crucial for Sri Lanka’s peace. Oslo is not only the sole acceptable conduit for dialogue between both sides, but as head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, is intimately connected with micro-efforts to prevent an outbreak of war. Norway has thus earned the gratitude of the people of the Northeast for their indefatigable efforts. But many Sinhala leaders have irresponsibly heaped invectives on the only international actor both prepared to get involved in promoting peace and – at one stage at least – acceptable to both sides. It is hard not to draw the conclusion hat Mr. Rajapske’s invitation to Norway this week is less an act of statesmanship than a desperate scrabble forced upon him by events in the North - and thus hardly the basis for any optimism.

The violence which exploded across the Northeast –particularly in Jaffna – in the past week has understandably sent shockwaves throughout Sri Lanka and alarmed international actors with a stake in securing peace in the island. The frustration of the international ceasefire monitors is palpable, particularly given that just a week ago it appeared the smouldering yet relentless violence of the shadow war seemed to have eased, if not ceased. The lull ushered in by the Presidential election of November 17 was shattered last Thursday when gunmen murdered two pro-LTTE Tamil activists and wounded a third in Army controlled Jaffna. Subsequently, there has been an eruption of violence against the security forces in the northern peninsula – amid clashes between Army-backed paramilitaries and the Tigers in Batticaloa and simmering communal tensions in Trincomalee. But it is the situation in Jaffna that is being nervously watched most closely.

In the past week a rash of attacks on Sri Lankan troops across the government-controlled parts of the peninsula, including two lethal claymore attacks, have left at least fifteen soldiers dead. The question that has understandably risen amongst many is whether this presages a wider resumption of Sri Lanka’s conflict. The government says the LTTE is attempting to goad the armed forces into resuming the war. But this charge is untenable – recent events are too naked to be a provocation. The dynamic is quite different – and depressingly familiar: the violence in Jaffna, like that which has gripped the eastern province for over a year is unmistakably part of the shadow war between the military intelligence and the LTTE. But the clashes, as many, including this newspaper, have repeatedly warned, are escalating in scope and reach. Individual incidents are now serious enough in themselves to question the viability of the truce.

But ceasefire breaches that result in high loss of life are not new. Earlier on this year, Army-backed paramilitaries brazenly massacred an LTTE political delegation traveling through government held territory, killing the head of the movement’s political wing in Batticaloa, several of his aides and a Tamil parliamentarian traveling with him. In 2003, the Sri Lankan government twice attacked and sank LTTE ships in international waters, killing a dozen cadres each time. Nevertheless Norwegian-brokered talks went ahead a week after the first sinking and dialogue (though not direct talks) has taken place on numerous issues and occasions after the second.

What is concerning about the ongoing violence is that nothing is being done to reduce it. Despite repeated urgings by the international community – and at least two formal reprimands by the Co-Chairs of the peace process – Sri Lanka steadfastly refuses to disarm the Tamil paramilitaries. Instead, military intelligence is aggressively – even forcibly – recruiting more gunmen and expanding the scope of its war. The induction of newly constituted paramilitary units to the Jaffna peninsula in the past few weeks is the latest step in this war. Hopes that newly elected President Mahinda Rajapaske would be more prepared than his predecessor to rein in Sri Lanka’s military intelligence and halt its campaign against the LTTE and its supporters have now been dashed. Efforts by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to arrange a meeting between military officials and the LTTE failed when the government – without explanation - withdrew permission for its officers to attend – even though the Army’s new commander has also called for dialogue.

A plethora of names are being bounced around – shadow war, stealth war, subversive war, and so on. But no concrete action is being taken to arrest it. As this newspaper has argued before, any peace process can only make progress amidst a stable security environment for both protagonists. Since the February 2002 ceasefire was signed Sri Lanka’s south has enjoyed security and stability – save a few high profile and isolated incidents and those, moreover, in recent times. But the security situation in the Northeast has been getting steadily worse for at least two years. Colombo’s schoolyard politics of sneak attacks and claims of innocence have been tolerated by the international community for too long. The Co-chairs must exert their influence with the new Sri Lankan administration to demonstrably implement Clause 1.8 of the Ceasefire Agreement immediately. A period of mutual de-escalation and confidence building is a sine quo non if a meaningful peace process is to resume. It must begin with an end to the Army’s covert onslaught.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Victoria Police Wednesday searched the premises of several persons in Melbourne, Victoria suspected of providing assistance to the Liberation Tigers, Australian press reports said.

Although no arrests were made, the raids carried out early on Wednesday are related to an ongoing investigation, The Australian newspaper reported.

It quoted a federal police spokesperson as confirming that “a number of warrants were executed” and items were seized.

The nature and scope of the warrants remained unspecified, but the AFP said their investigation was into activities that did not involve plans to carry out an attack in Australia

A man who frequents the community centre told The Age newspaper: “It wasn’t like a raid. The police talked to people and took away a computer. No one was arrested or charged. The house is a resource centre. It’s like a library.”

The AFP have not made any arrests or laid any charges and those who were taken for questioning were all release later the same day, friends of some of those detained said.

The AFP say the investigations are not terrorism related, the Australian Broadcasting Cooperation reported. According to the AFP the raids are part of an ongoing investigation of a sensitive nature, the state-owned television station said.

Four Melbourne properties were raided by the police investigating possible links with the LTTE, The Age newspaper said.

However, the Melbourne building raided by the AFP is a Tamil community centre and a distribution centre for the Tamil newspaper, Eelamurasu, The Age newspaper quoted community sources as saying.

The Tamil Co-ordinating Committee (TCC) of Australia, raided on Wednesday, was a legitimate organisation looking after the welfare of Tamils in Melbourne and Sri Lanka, a community leader said.

The Sri Lankan presidential election that was held on Thursday, 17th November 2005 has produced a result that is of supreme irrelevance to the Tamils of the country. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse of the UPFA has won the race receiving 4.88 million votes or 50.3% of the total cast to become the Sinhala nation’s fifth President. He has beaten the former Prime Minister and UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe who received 4.70 million votes or 48.4% in a close-run race . It is reported that most Tamils did not cast their votes in this election. The Election Commissioner has put the voter turnout at some 75%.

This election should have been Ranil Wickremesinghe’s opportunity to build bridges with the disenfranchised Tamil community by pursuing a programme for equality, justice and peace for all citizens of the country. It is obvious from the figures of votes reported that he had a significant proportion of the Sinhala electorate supporting his policies for economic development and racial harmony and that he lost by a wafer thin margin. When considering that his rival Rajapakse by his virulent anti-Tamil stance had forfeited the right to Tamil votes, Wickremesinghe could have harvested the votes of all reasonable and moderate Sinhalese and as well as those of a majority of the Tamils and other minorities, if he had only shown some statesmanship and political fortitude.

But he and his senior cohorts like Moragoda and Dissanayake tried to outbid the devil himself by claiming during the hustings the dubious battle credits for sinking Tiger supply ships and for turning over the treacherous Karuna and his brigands. Sinhala triumphalism was to be his path to electoral glory. They also paraded the hoary chant that they had got the LTTE in the vice of Western governments and international public opinion. Wickremesinghe had still to learn the lesson that prosperity and leadership need courage and vision, and he has now paid the price for feebleness and chicanery. He has once again lost his chance to become President of the country and there is no doubt that he will now be cast on the scrap-heap of politics where he will be remembered as a good but weak man who was always out- manoeuvred by his old contemporary in politics, Chandrika Bandaranaike.

The new president Rajapakse took a hardline against the Tamils by entering into a pre-election agreement with the extreme Sinhala racist party, JVP, which has consistently advocated no political compromise with the Tamil parties and supported a military campaign for the annexation of the traditional Tamil homelands within a unitary Sri Lanka . He also allied himself with the chauvinistic party of the Buddhist monks, JHU, which has campaigned relentlessly for the domination of the Buddhist religion and the Sinhala race in the fabric and politics of Sri Lanka .

Mahinda Rajapakse, on the other hand, as the outgoing Prime Minister in the government of President Chandrika Bandaranaike had previously supported the continuation of the Cease Fire Agreement with the Liberation Tigers. He had also been a vocal supporter of the P-TOMS agreement with the LTTE to deal with the administration of foreign funds for tsunami relief in the north and east. But the principles and consciences of Sinhala leaders are like those of Faust, available to trade with the devil of Sinhalese racism and political opportunism. Rajapakse saw no dilemma in shedding his previous support for these watershed agreements for communal amity and constitutional progress.

He has now won the prize that he has always wanted and is an undeserving second-rater for the position. His attempts to siphon out some of the tsunami funds for his private account will besmirch him forever He had feared that because of his low birth and his undistinguished background, the more sophisticated Bandaranaikes would keep him out on this plum position.

The Tamils have no cause for celebration but have to view these events with circumspection and alarm. The madhouse of politics in Sri Lanka is once again in their hands of the inmates of the asylum. Rajapakse along with the JVP and the JHU have got the time bomb in their hands and can summon the roll of the war drums. It is up to them to engage in racist war cry and to shatter the fragile peace that has prevailed in that blighted country for nearly three years. Or, it is up to Rajapakse to abandon his ill-gotten friends of the extreme racist fringes and go forward in peace to implementing the Oslo accord and to restart peace talks.

The Tamils have been but innocent bystanders in the national politics of Sri Lanka since independence. There will not be a single Tamil in government this time again except for a few quislings. The Tamils will not want to be marginalised for ever and it is up to Rajapakse to grasp this opportunity to pursue peace with justice and prosperity or to reap the harvest of dragon’s teeth that he and the country will inevitably sow if he is hell-bent on a destructive Sinhala majoritarian and anti-Tamil course.

The international community has been visibly angered by the Liberation Tigers’ call for a boycott of last Thursday’s Presidential elections and for thus contributing to the defeat of Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP). It has been no secret that Wickremesinghe was the international community’s preferred candidate and not the victorious Mahinda Rajapakse of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) - even though diplomatic protocol precludes even the most vocal critics of the LTTE from saying so. The decision of the island’s Tamil community, including the majority of those in Colombo, to not exercise one of the limited rights they enjoy under Sri Lanka’s constitution to contribute to the installation Mr. Wickremesinghe as head of state has been met with incredulity and, in certain quarters, intense displeasure.

In the past few years, Mr. Wickremesinghe and his UNP have been embraced by the liberal world order as one of its own who has embraced the enlightened philosophies of globalisation and economic liberalisation. During his brief tenure in power, for example, he created the Ministry for Economic Reform, appointing the eloquent free-market warrior, Milinda Moragoda, to it. Mr. Wickremesinghe’s ‘Regaining Sri Lanka’ plan won the enthusiastic backing of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The economic blueprint might have been drafted by the international finance organisations, so complete was its embrace of neoliberal principles. The ethos of his administration was to roll back the state from the market: to privatise state assets, restructure government and open Sri Lanka’s markets to global trade.

The decision by the Tamils not to back Mr. Wickremesinghe is incredulous, especially when the argument that there was no difference for them between him and Rajapakse is impossible for advocates of the liberal peace to accept. Surely he is no chauvinist, they argue. Such a strong advocate of globalisation is surely beyond the petty politics of ethnicity, or so Mr. Wickremesinghe’s sponsors may suggest. Indeed, contemporary assumptions tend not to associate ethno-supremacists with pro-globalisation policies. Indeed, Mr. Wickremesinghe’s backers’ point to Rajapakse whose economic protectionist policies and Sinhala nationalism seem to go hand in hand.

But from a Tamil perspective, Mr. Wickremesinghe’s failure in redressing Tamil grievances go hand in hand with his successful regeneration of Sri Lanka’s economy - and military. The UNP administration inherited a failing economy and a debilitated military, both of which they proudly claim to resuscitated with the help of the international community. In the meantime, aside from the cessation of violence, the mainly Tamil Northeast has enjoyed few benefits from peace.

The question is whether anything was going to change if Mr. Wickremesinghe won. Tamil scepticism was confirmed most vividly during the closing stages of the UNP election campaign, when the party began unabashedly courting the Sinhala nationalist vote. Most surprising, it was Milinda Moragoda, the arch neo-liberal in Mr. Wickremesinghe’s coterie who launched the most crucial thrust, gloating over the government’s successes in dividing the LTTE, and generally undermining Tamil aspirations via the peace process.

Mr. Moragoda’s statements are the most incontrovertible evidence in recent times of the dichotomy in Sri Lanka between liberal economic policies and liberal political philosophies. The post-election tussle for power within the party between Mr. Wickremesinghe and more vociferous hawks within the UNP confirm Tamil concerns that beneath the party’s skin of liberal values, beats a Sinhala nationalist heart.

Contrary to expectations one might expect of globalist liberals, when Mr. Wickremesinghe’s party has sat in opposition in the recent and more distant past, they have consistently reverted to hawkish positions on the ethnic question. Most recently, for example, the UNP failed to support mechanisms for sharing aid with the LTTE. The much vaunted Post-Tsunami Operation Management Structure (P-TOMS), for example, collapsed by the wayside without a murmur from the UNP – save a grumble about not enough Sinhalese being in the structure (intended for the Northeast). In 2000 and earlier, the UNP even echoed the sentiments of ‘extremist’ parties such as the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) in blocking President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s devolution proposals, however limited these may have been.

Mr. Wickremesinghe’s version of the party is not the first to mix ethnocentric politics with liberal market policies. The UNP administration of (first Prime Minister, then) President J. R. Jayawerdene in the 1980s is arguably the most ardent economic reformist in Sri Lanka’s post independence history. But he also brought in the present constitution concentrating power in a Presidency and entrenching the dominance of Sinhala Buddhism. Furthermore, by specifying unassailable thresholds for constitutional reform, Jayawerdene ensured that reform of the Buddhist state is a practical impossibility.

However, President Jayawerdene’s seriously flawed ethnic policies were ignored by the International Community, who welcomed the inaugural President’s economic reforms as welcome move away from the socialist policies of the 1970s. In the global context of the Cold War, Western powers prioritised Presdient Jayawerdene’s shift towards capitalism over other ‘minor’ issues such as his anti-Tamil policies. And this is the leader, after all, who unashamedly declared in 1983: “I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people now...Now we cannot think of them. Not about their lives or of their opinion about us... The more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here...really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.”

With the induction of Sri Lanka into the capitalist block viewed as the more essential project, the international community turned a blind-eye to the growing state violence against the island’s Tamils. Academics such as Ronald Herring argue that the external financial assistance rendered to Sri Lanka to encourage further economic reform exacerbated the ethnic conflict in several ways. In his 2001 study, Herring argues, for example, that “the expanded flow of benefits enabled by aid was skewed” in favour of the Sinhalese. But, Herring argues, “escalation of ethnic conflict was not caused by foreign aid or structural adjustment,” but by “decisive contributions made by an autonomous sphere of politics.” The resulting foreign-assisted state patronage of specific ethnic groups fuelled communal tensions.

Herring singled out the Mahaveli scheme as an example of foreign aided state projects which exacerbated ethnic tensions. Drawing up to 45% of project aid between 1979 and 1981, the scheme was drawn up by the Jayawerdene administration, and resulted in “a large influx of ethnically motivated [Sinhala] colonists and settlers who come to the area with a confrontational attitude.” But despite utilising international aid to implement an ethnic colonisation programme, President Jayawerdene was hailed by his sponsors as an poster boy for economic liberalism.

Much like his uncle, Mr. Wickremesinghe had hoped to dazzle the International Community with the economic virtues of his administration and simultaneously placate the Sinhala nationalist constituency. Had the Tamil community played their part last week he would most likely have succeeded. But they did not and he has not. But regrettably, last week’s outcome is another misjudgement of Sri Lanka’s ruling parties by the international community, just like those which have in resulted fiscal, political and military assistance to the state to the detriment of the Tamils. As in the past, with Mr. Jayawerdene and Mrs. Kumaratunga, the international community continues to judge Sri Lanka’s leaders on their economic platforms and their dovish rhetoric, rather than their concrete actions on the ground.

The international community need to begin accounting for the variety of political, economic and religious dichotomies that plague the island, if they expect to be able to influence the emergence of a liberal peace. Amid these anomalies, it should come as little surprise that ethno-chauvinism and economic liberalism can be espoused at the same time by a mainstream political party keen to secure power and international aid at the same time. One might argue that international assessment of Colombo administrations’ hawkish or dovish character needs to be conducted on the same basis as the Tamils: a measure of what it actually delivered, not pledged.

Denying accusation they had intimidated Tamils into not voting in last week’s Presidential election, the Liberation Tigers said the boycott last week was a reflection of prevailing Tamil sentiments towards Sri Lankan leaders, based on their bitter experiences of the past.

The near total boycott by Tamil voters took place despite the oppressive presence of thousands of Sri Lankan troops and Army-backed paramilitaries in Jaffna and other parts of the Northeast, the LTTE’s Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, told TamilNet Tuesday.

“The reality was that the Tamil people, faced with intimidation by the all pervasive presence of Sri Lankan troops, Army-backed paramilitary cadres and intelligence operatives delivered a message against intimidation by the military,” he said.

He questioned how the allegation of intimidation could be levelled against the LTTE when the voters in question were living under the guns of the occupying Sri Lankan forces?

He also pointed out that LTTE members had long ago been withdrawn from SLA held areas in the wake of Sri Lankan military intelligence supported paramilitary attacks on them.

“There are forty thousand Sri Lankan troops in Jaffna alone exercising a clear intimidatory presence,” Mr. Thamilchelvan said. “Nevertheless, there was a record low in polling in Jaffna.”

“Those who allege that the Tamil people were intimidated not only fail to understand the ground reality prevailing in the Tamil homeland in both political and historical context, but also fail to interpret the message the people have given,” he said.

“The reality today is that the tsunami and war displaced people are enduring flood damage in temporary shelters despite four years of peace” Mr. Thamilchelvan, who was monitoring relief work amongst floods in the Vanni, told TamilNet.

“Our stand, as representatives of the Tamil people, on Colombo’s elections, was a reflection of what the vast majority of Tamil people felt,” he said.

“Our conclusion [on the elections] was a thus a reflection of the prevailing views of the Tamils. We, as the representatives of the Tamil people have simply adhered to the principle of reflecting that view,” he further said.

Mr. Tamilselvan further pointed out that the LTTE had not ordered Tamils to boycott the elections, but had refused to mobilise for or against any of the Sinhala candidates contesting.

“All access was provided to election monitors if they so wished. Roads were open,” the LTTE’s Political Head said.

He added that election monitors were still welcome to take up the complaints against the LTTE “issue by issue” and “to examine the circumstances concerned in-depth.”

Over the weekend, the European Union and the US State Department condemned the Tigers, accusing them of interfering with the election and of intimidating Tamils into boycotting the elections.

“The United States regrets that Tamil voters in the northern and eastern parts of the island did not vote in significant numbers due to a clear campaign of intimidation by the LTTE,” a State Department statement said.

Whilst large numbers of Sri Lankans turned out to back their candidates of choice in Thursday’s Presidential elections, the ballots were cast mainly in the island’s Sinhala dominated south and in parts of the multi-ethnic east.

There was a near-total boycott in the Tamil dominated north and few Tamils voted in the eastern province after the Liberation Tigers and Tamil parliamentarians urged them to stay away.

“The Tigers had clearly sent a message to the people not to vote. They called for a boycott without actually saying it,” a military commander told AFP.

In the lead up to the election, the Tigers made no secret of their lack of interest in the outcome, but said they would not interfere in the elections.

“After the election, all promises are forgotten. We are totally unconcerned about the outcome of this election. We are a responsible political organization and have decided that people are at liberty to decide whether to vote and how to vote,” LTTE political head S.P. Tamilchelvan told Reuters

Less than one percent of voters in Jaffna turned out to vote. Turnout amongst Tamils was low in the eastern Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Amparai also, though Sinhalese and Muslims voted.

In parts of the east, LTTE supporters and cadres burned tyres and manned barricades at crossing points between LTTE-controlled and Army-controlled areas, sparking furious condemnations from election monitors and supporters of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) whose candidate, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was relying on a large number of Tamil votes.

After the scale of the Tamil boycott became clear, the UNP formally demanded a repeat of the polls in the Northeast, saying voters had been denied the vote by the LTTE’s call and disruption.

However, when Sri Lanka’s Election Commission declined to re-poll, on the basis the disruptions – as opposed to the heeding of the LTTE call - would not have altered the outcome, the UNP agreed to abide by the victory of Mahinda Rajapakse, Wickremesinghe’s archrival.

The BBC reporter in Colombo, Sanjoy Majumder, said it is clear that Wickremesinghe lost not just because of the Tamil boycott in the north and east of the island, but also because many Tamils in Colombo, where his support has been strong, did not vote for him.

UNP party workers were bitter about the Tamil boycott in the north which, they say, not only denied Wickremesinghe potential votes, but also facilitated electoral fraud on behalf of Rajapakse.

Even in the predominantly Tamil Batticaloa district, Rajapakse, despite campaigning on a hardline Sinhala platform, had apparently secured several thousand votes, they said.

The European Union and the US State Department condemned the Tigers, accusing them of interfering with the election and of intimidating Tamils into boycotting the elections.

International ceasefire monitors of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said that whilst accusations the LTTE set up barricades could not be proven, the Tiger should have ensured there was free movement of people.

Complaints were made that angry crowds gathered to prevent Tamils from leaving LTTE-controlled areas to vote in polling booths set up in Army-controlled regions.

However, LTTE spokesman Thaya Master pointed out that it were crowds of unarmed citizens gathered, not LTTE soldiers.

“They were expressing their disinterest toward the elections, and protesting against the Sinhalese candidates,” he said. “It is not our business to do something like this, but if our people choose to demonstrate, we will not stop them.”

The scale of the Tamil boycott startled many. Sri Lanka’s Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said: “We have never seen anything like that before. I can’t say what caused this.”

From the Kilinochchi district, only 1 person out of 66,596 voters – and he picked Wickremesinghe.

In Jaffna, about only 8,500 people voted (of which 5,500 opted for Wickremesinghe and almost 2,000 for Rajapakse). Election officials said over 701,000 people were eligible to vote in Jaffna, but pointed with many abroad or displaced, in the last Parliamentary elections only 250,000 voted.

The Jaffna electorate comprises Kayts, Vaddukoddai, Kankesanthurai, Manipay, Kopay, Udupiddy Point Pedro, Chavakacheri, Nallur, Jaffna and Kilinochchi towns.

In Vanni, comprising Mullaithivu, Mannar and Vavuniya, 85,874 of 250,386 registered voted. Wickremesinghe took 65,798 against Rajapakse’s 17,197.

In Trincomalee, where eligible voters are split 34.3%, 32,7% 26.4% into Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese, 154,000 of almost 239,000 cast their ballot, just over 92,000 for Wickremesinghe and almost 55,700 for Rajapakse.

The Trincomalee electorate comprises Mutur, Trincomalee and Seruwila. In areas of Trincomalee where the government arranged for buses to transport people from Tiger-controlled areas to polling booths in government-held regions, the buses travelled empty.

In Batticaloa electorate, comprising Kalkudah, Pattiruppu and Batticaloa, 154,615 of the 318,728 eligible voters cast their ballots – 121,514 for Wickremesinghe and 28,836 for Rajapakse. Of the eligible voters in the electorate, 76.4%, 23.5% and 0.25% are Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese.

In the Digamadulla electorate, comprising Amparai, Sammanthurai, Kalmunai and Pottuvil, 288,208 of 396,453 eligible voters cast their ballots – 159,198 for Wickremesinghe and 122,329 for Rajapakse. Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils comprise 41.7%, 39.3% and 18.8% respectively of the eligible voters in the Digamadulla electorate.

Pakistan needs help now, not later - experts

While warmly welcoming an international donors’ conference last Saturday for Pakistan’s recovery from last month’s devastating earthquake, a group of United Nations experts warned this week that the vast majority of pledges are earmarked for long-term recovery even as operations remain in the critical rescue and assistance phase.

“Even in the face of such generosity, the risk of a second humanitarian disaster looms large,” the experts said in a statement on the $5.4 billion pledged.

“More lives are at risk today than the 74,000 originally claimed by the earthquakes. Donors must not rest content with the outcome of Saturday’s conference,” they said.

“In order to save lives today, these pledges must be fulfilled immediately. Moreover, donors must allow flexibility in use of the funds,” they added of the quake which beyond the dead and injured left up to 3 million people homeless.

“We remind donors that with winter fast approaching and life-saving resources scarce, tens of thousands of earthquake survivors face death, hunger and disease as well as prolonged displacement and homelessness,” they declared.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that with emergency conditions persisting and unlikely to abate before spring, food and shelter are in critical need if those who endured the earthquake are to survive the rapidly approaching winter.

Some 2.3 million people will require food assistance at least through April, it said.

Nepal rebels to end war

Nepal’s Maoist rebels said on Tuesday they were ready to end years of violence and rejoin the political mainstream.

The move confirms a breakthrough announced by Nepali political leaders visiting New Delhi last week. But the rebels did detail their conditions for ending the fighting.

Nepal’s seven main parties recently met the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) to discuss ending years of war and creating a united political front against King Gyanendra, who sacked the government and took power in February.

“The CPN-M expresses its commitment to march ahead peacefully into a new political mainstream,” Maoist chief Prachanda said in a statement.

He said the rebels would continue talking with the parties about how they could rejoin the political process. His announcement came days after the parties said the Maoists were ready to accept multiparty democracy and end violence.

“We are committed to end the autocratic monarchy and establish full democracy through a forward-looking political solution,” Prachanda’s statement said.

The Maoists have been fighting since 1996 to overthrow the world’s only Hindu monarchy and install a communist rule, a revolution that has killed at least 12,500 people and shattered the economy.

There was no immediate comment from the appointed royalist government that calls the Maoists terrorists.(Reuters)

Japan to invest $1.4 bn in India

Highlighting the growing economic importance of India, Japan said on Tuesday it would invest $1.4 billion in India, but felt it would take sometime before New Delhi became a partner in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Japanese Ambassador Yasunuki Enoki told reporters in Delhi that the $1.4 billion investment would be made in 29 projects, which had already been approved.

Eight additional projects were under consideration and if approved, Japanese FDI from now to 2007 would exceed $1.5 billion, he said.

Two-way India-Japan trade, which currently stands at $5 billion, is also set to rise though not dramatically, with the two countries agreeing to halve the 20 per cent tax levied on services under a new treaty, the envoy said.

“Our trade will also rise, but not dramatically, after the new taxation treaty comes into force (in July 2006),” Enoki said.

He said Japan was now looking ahead to the second Japanese investment boom in India -- with the first round of investments witnessed from 1991 to 1998 which saw some $540 million come in till India’s nuclear test put relationship between the two countries on hold.

“That has changed since 2002 and the better political climate is an inducement for investments,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s India visit earlier this year had a strong impact on Japanese investors.(PTI)

Delhi to spend $10 bn on airports

India is embarking on a massive drive to upgrade existing airports and build new ones at a cost of $10 billion over the next four years, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said this week.

The projects involve both upgrading and building airports in 41 cities, including six key cities, he said at the Dubai Air Show on Monday.

While airports in the metro cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata would be upgraded to receive the largest and latest aircraft, two new airports would be built at Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The minister said these projects would be completed in five years. Sounding bullish on the growth of the Indian aviation sector, Patel said the industry saw growth topping 25 per cent last year and reaching 30 per cent this year.

Two Indian carriers - Air India and Indian Airlines - will also go public by issuing IPOs early next year, Patel said.

On demand from new private Indian carriers for permission to operate on the lucrative Gulf sector, the minister said the current restrictions would remain in place.

“We want the country to be connected from within and the private airlines have to show consistency for five consecutive years. Then the reward is to fly overseas,” he said.(Rediff)

India rejects Pakistan’s Kashmir ‘self-rule’ idea

India has rejected Pakistan’s suggestions regarding “self governance” on both sides of the Line of Control (LOC) and reaffirmed that there would be no re-deployment of security forces while terrorism, violence and infiltration continued.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the recent SAARC Summit in Dhaka that in seeking a resolution on the Jammu and Kashmir issue the two countries could explore ideas like self governance and de-militarisation.

Rejecting the suggestion, India said people of the state already enjoyed autonomy and popular democratic rights and said residents of the state’s parts under Pakistan’s occupation were deprived this.

“No proposal regarding so called self governance was provided to which a response was expected. Our Prime Minister had conveyed that J and K already enjoyed autonomy under the Indian Constitution and had in place a popular government elected through free and fair elections,” an Indian spokesman said.

“However, there was clearly a lack of autonomy in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and there had been no popular elections in Gilgit and Baltistan to determine the wishes and aspirations of the people,” he said.

Mr. Singh had also reiterated that there would be no question of re-deployment of Indian security forces while cross border terrorism and infiltration continued and there was no cessation of terrorist violence.(Agencies)

Bosnia rethink under US pressure

Under US pressure, Bosnia’s political leaders agreed on Tuesday to “streamline” their tri-presidency by March, which could lead to a sole president for the divided Balkan country and bolster its chances of joining NATO and the EU.

In a joint statement during US-brokered talks, leaders of Bosnia’s three ethnic groups also made an unusual call for accused war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic to surrender to a UN court at The Hague.

The Bosnians reached the agreements during talks that mark this week’s 10th anniversary of the US brokered Dayton accords, which stopped a 1992-95 civil war but also established a political system based on ethnic divisions.

“We have decided to embark upon a process of constitutional reform that will enhance the authorities of the state government and streamline parliament and the office of the presidency,” eight political leaders representing Bosnia’s three main ethnic groups said in a statement distributed by the U.S. State Department.

Faced with Bosnian Serb resistance, the statement did not specifically commit the leaders to creating a single presidency.

During tough talks over two days, U.S. diplomats said they dropped their goal for a specific pledge for a sole president and instead focused on winning a strong commitment for reform that they believe will bring about a single presidency anyway.(Reuters)

Colombian rebels ‘keen’ to talk

Colombia’s second largest rebel group says it is prepared to hold exploratory talks with the government to discuss the terms of a possible peace process.

However, the National Liberation Army (ELN) said in a statement that it was not suspending its armed campaign.

One of ELN’s main leaders, Francisco Galan, was recently released in an attempt to pave the way for dialogue.

The ELN and the larger FARC have been involved in a 40-year conflict with state forces and right-wing fighters.

Alejo Vargas, who serves as a mediator, said that the ELN statement was optimistic.

“The big step is that for the first time the group at the highest level is willing to sit down with the government.”

Francisco Galan is serving a 30-year sentence for rebellion, terrorism and kidnapping.

The government allowed him to leave jail for three months in September in the hope that he would convince the ELN to begin talks.

President Alvaro Uribe has already started a peace process with the country’s main right-wing paramilitary group, the AUC, but the terms of them have been strongly criticised by human rights groups.

The Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has refused to negotiate with the government.(BBC)

Kurd UDI if civil war erupts

Iraqi Kurds will have no choice but to proclaim independence in the event of civil war in Iraq, Massud Barzani, president of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish zone, warned.

In an interview with Turkish television station NTV on a day of fresh bombings of Shiite mosques in Iraq, Barzani said an outbreak of civil war would force Iraqi Kurds to exercise the “right” to independence.

“May God save us from civil war, but if others start fighting among themselves and there is an outbreak, we will have no other alternative,” he said.

He said that while independence was a “natural and legitimate right” for Iraqi Kurds, they would “at this stage” implement the country’s new constitution in support of a “democratic federal and pluralist” Iraq.

Turkey fears a declaration of independence by Iraq’s Kurds would inflame a rebellion by separatists within its own large Kurdish minority.

Barzani downplayed the presence of anti-Turkey Kurdish rebels in his territory of northern Iraq, saying there was no military solution to the unrest in Turkey.

At least 55 people were killed and 62 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday amid worshippers at two Shiite mosques in Khanaqin. Authorities imposed a curfew in the majority Shiite Kurdish town near the Iranian border.(AFP)

Palestianians reform foreign service

The Palestinians are cleaning out their embassies around the world, removing entrenched ambassadors and establishing a code of conduct in reforms aimed at transforming their calcified foreign service into a professional diplomatic corps, officials said.

The campaign is the largest reform effort undertaken by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas since he took power after Yasser Arafat’s death a year ago, officials said this week. Arafat, who dominated Palestinian politics for more than three decades, left behind an administration riddled with corruption, where cronies were given choice appointments based on their connections rather than their qualifications.

Nasser Al Kidwa, Arafat’s nephew and the former Palestinian representative to the United Nations, has forced 22 ambassadors into retirement and moved 13 others into different jobs since he became foreign minister early this year. Most of those removed were between 60 and 76 years old — 16 years beyond retirement age — and many had been in their post for decades, some for nearly 40 years, Palestinian officials said.

In their place, Al Kidwa appointed 33 new ambassadors, most of them prominent academics.

Many of the ambassadors, struggling to live on small salaries, took second jobs to supplement their incomes, said Ibrahim Khreisha, the Palestinian deputy foreign minister. Many stayed in their posts so long that they became citizens of the countries where they lived, prompting questions about their loyalty, he said.(AP)

Reaching out to the Sunni Arab community, Iraqi leaders this week called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq’s opposition had a “legitimate right” of resistance.

The communique - finalized by Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders - condemned terrorism but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens.

The leaders agreed on “calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces ... control the borders and the security situation” and end terror attacks.

The preparatory reconciliation conference, held under the auspices of the Arab League, was attended by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers as well as leading Sunni politicians.

Sunni leaders have been pressing the Shiite-majority government to agree to a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops. The statement recognized that goal, but did not lay down a specific time - reflecting instead the government’s stance that Iraqi security forces must be built up first.

On Monday, Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr suggested U.S.-led forces should be able to leave Iraq by the end of next year, saying the one-year extension of the mandate for the multinational force in Iraq by the U.N. Security Council this month could be the last.

In Egypt, the final communique’s attempt to define terrorism omitted any reference to attacks against U.S. or Iraqi forces. Delegates from across the political and religious spectrum said the omission was intentional. They spoke anonymously, saying they feared retribution.

“Though resistance is a legitimate right for all people, terrorism does not represent resistance. Therefore, we condemn terrorism and acts of violence, killing and kidnapping targeting Iraqi citizens and humanitarian, civil, government institutions, national resources and houses of worships,” the document said.

The final communique also stressed participants’ commitment to Iraq’s unity and called for the release of all “innocent detainees” who have not been convicted by courts. It asked that allegations of torture against prisoners be investigated and those responsible be held accountable.

The gathering was part of a U.S.-backed league attempt to bring the communities closer together and assure Sunni Arab participation in a political process now dominated by Iraq’s Shiite majority and large Kurdish minority.(AP)

Hunger and malnutrition kill nearly 6 million children a year, and more people are malnourished in sub-Saharan Africa this decade than in the 1990s, according to a U.N. report released Tuesday.

Many of the children die from diseases that are treatable, including diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, said the report by the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of malnourished people grew to 203.5 million people in 2000-02 from 170.4 million 10 years earlier, the report states, noting that hunger and malnutrition are among the main causes of poverty, illiteracy, disease and deaths in developing countries.

The U.N. food agency said the goal of reducing the number of the world’s hungry by half by the year 2015, set by the World Food Summit in 1996 and reinforced by the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, remains distant but attainable.

“If each of the developing regions continues to reduce hunger at the current pace, only South America and the Caribbean will reach the Millennium Development Goal target,” Jacques Diouf, the agency’s director-general, wrote in the report, the agency’s annual update on world hunger.

The food agency said the Asia-Pacific region also has a good chance of reaching the targets “if it can accelerate progress slightly over the next few years.”

“Most, if not all of the ... targets can be reached, but only if efforts are redoubled and refocused,” Diouf said. “To bring the number of hungry people down, priority must be given to rural areas and to agriculture as the mainstay of rural livelihoods.”

Most of the 6 million child deaths a year are not due to starvation but rather to neonatal disorders and diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and measles which would be easily curable if the victims were not weakened by lack of nutrition.

Of the 530,000 annual deaths of women due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, 99 percent are in developing countries, the report says, with hunger contributing to those deaths in many cases.

Millions of families are pushed deeper into poverty and hunger by the illness and death of breadwinners, the cost of health care, paying for funerals and support of orphans.

About 75 percent of the world’s hungry and poor live in rural areas in poor countries, the report found.

The FAO is urging a twin-track approach to tackling hunger, ensuring agriculture improves in poor countries while continuing to target food aid to the vulnerable such as women and children.

The number of people with HIV worldwide has exceeded 40 million for the first time, with more than 2.6 million adults and almost 600,000 children dying from AIDS in the past year.

The figures, released at UN headquarters in New York, reveal the relentless rise of HIV infection, which leads to AIDS. It has now claimed more than 25million lives since the early 1980s, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in history. The vast majority of cases are in the developing world.

The report, by the Joint UN Program on HIV-AIDS and the World Health Organisation, estimated there would be an extra 5 million infections globally this year. Only a handful of countries have made serious efforts to stop HIV infection, the annual report said.

Worldwide, less than one in five people at risk has access to basic prevention services and only 10 per cent of people with HIV have been tested and made aware of the infection.

The report shows HIV-AIDS increasing in every region of the world except the Caribbean, where it is at the same level as in 2003.

Globally, 40.3 million people have HIV-AIDS.

In what has been called the “feminisation” of the disease, 17.5million of these are women. Tragically, 2.3million are children under 15. Children represent 700,000 of the 4.9 million people infected this year.

The report says 3.1 million people have died as a result of AIDS this year - 2.6 million adults and 570,000 children.

UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot said the epidemic was continuing to outstrip containment efforts.

“It is clear a rapid increase in the scale and scope of HIV prevention programs is urgently needed,” he said. “We must move from small projects with short-term horizons to long-term comprehensive strategies.”

While sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s most AIDS-afflicted region, with 65 per cent of all new cases, the infection rate is increasing fastest in eastern Europe and central Asia, with shared use of needles among drug users to blame.

The report says HIV-AIDS is almost out of control in Pakistan and Indonesia.

Jim Kim, director of the World Health Organisation’s HIV-AIDS division, said integrated strategies covering a wide range of measures were needed to step up the global fight.

The measures included sexual abstinence, changed behaviour, greater use of condoms and methadone and needle exchange programs to prevent transmission by intravenous drug use.

“We’ll never really know for sure exactly what particular intervention led to a particular change in a person’s behaviour, so what we recommend is that the full range of preventions and interventions must be utilised,” Dr Kimsaid.

“Any time you take one or the other factor out of it for ideological or political reasons, you are really putting a country and individuals at risk.”

Dr Kim said that in the Middle East it was conservative Iran that had taken the lead in introducing prevention programs, while China had ditched its policy of denial and was now looking positively at prevention programs.

However, Dr Kim said HIV-AIDS was still seen as a “barometer of morality” and that many countries gave the disease a stigma not associated with other diseases.

Amid political turmoil in the wake of the election last week of President Mahinda Rajapakse, who campaigned on a hardline Sinhala nationalist platform, anxieties continued this week for the stalled Norwegian peace process.

An offer Friday by Norway to resume peace facilitation with the new administration has gone unanswered and, in his inaugural speech, President Rajapakse, until last week Premier under President Chandrika Kumaratunga, pointedly did not mention Norway’s offer or future role.

President Rajapakse was elected in elections last Thursday, defeating his main rival, Ranil Wickremesinghe of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) by a narrow margin.

But whilst Wickremesinghe secured the support of the main Upcountry parties and Sri Lanka’s biggest Muslim party, Rajapakse’s victory stemmed from a solid Sinhala vote bloc mobilized by ultra-nationalist allies.

Sri Lanka’s Tamils boycotted the election. And although the UNP initially challenged the outcome of the election Friday, it agreed to abide by the “people’s decision” Saturday, after the country’s Elections Commission refused a repoll, saying the outcome was not affected by the boycott.

Even before the controversy had been resolved, Friday night Norway offered its congratulations to President Rajapakse and declared its preparedness to continue peace facilitation in Sri Lanka.

“Norway remains willing to facilitate the peace process … for as long as the two parties request such assistance, and for as long as it is possible for Norway to play a constructive role,” veteran Peace Envoy and now Norwegian Minister of International Development, Mr. Erik Solheim, said.

Doubts over Norway’s role had been raised consequent to the bitter criticism leveled against the peace broker by Rajapakse’s campaign allies, the ultra-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) which condemned Oslo as conspiring to divide Sri Lanka with the LTTE.

“It is an acknowledged fact that the ongoing peace process has certain shortcomings,” Rajapakse told state television on the eve of the vote. “If that is the case, the peace process has to be revised. Each and every step that was taken in the direction of peace has failed so far.”

Rajapakse and the JVP, which is suspicious of the West are said to prefer a leading role by India. However, some analysts suggest India would be reluctant to take a leading role and would itself prefer Norway to continue.

The immediate concern is the February 2002 ceasefire which continues to come under intense pressure from a simmering shadow war between Sri Lanka military intelligence and the Liberation Tigers which has claimed over two hundred lives.

Sinhala nationalists have long condemned the truce, which ended seven years of intense conflict as having weakened Sri Lanka’s security, a theme Rajapakse returned to in his inaugural address.

“I want to state the dedication of my government to upholding the ceasefire (but) I am also ready to review the ceasefire agreement,” Rajapakse said, speaking in Sinhalese.

The LTTE has refused to countenance a redrafting of the truce and says that is the implementation of the agreement which is flawed, not the terms and conditions themselves.

However, the Tigers have said they are committed to the ceasefire and observers expect the truce to hold. They have, however, warned the new Colombo administration not to contemplate a return to the military option.

“If they try to use military means to occupy our land or wage a conflict it will have negative implications for [them],” the head of the LTTE’s political wing, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan said.

Rajapske insists he is committed to a peaceful solution amid his criticism of the Norwegian peace process.

“From this moment I will work towards my goal of making a new Sri Lanka. … I will try to achieve honourable peace for all,” he said, echoing his pre-election platform which dismissed the Norway-brokered peace process of Wickremesinghe’s government as having weakened national security and strengthened the LTTE.

“We will discuss peace talks with the LTTE and all political parties,” he said.

The LTTE has not responded formally to Rajapakse’s victory and comments, but the movement’s annual policy statement will be made Sunday when LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan makes his annual Heroes Day’ address.

New Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse swore in a 25-member cabinet on Wednesday, demoting key figures from his predecessor’s team and keeping the defense and finance portfolios for himself.

Combining the presidency and defense minister roles was expected as Rajapakse followed in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors.

But while former President Chandrika Kumaratunga previously held the finance post for some of the time she was in office some experts say combining the two may be unconstitutional.

The ultra-nationalist JVP party which helped sweep Rajapakse to power by mobilising the southern vote has decided not to accept any cabinet positions, officials said. The JVP will not rejoin the ruling coalition led by Rajapakse’s party either, they said.

The JVP was said to be unhappy with the posts offered and declined them, the BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya, reported, adding the all-monk JHU said it had not expected posts and would support the government.

Sandeshaya said the JVP was offered five portfolios but disagreements led the party to decide not to take any.

The JVP’s not joining the minority government may point to an early parliamentary election to allow President Rajapakse to strengthen the representation of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which leads the ruling coalition.

Parliamentary elections are not necessary for more than five years, but the president is allowed to call an election a year after those which decided the present makeup of the 225-seat house.

Rajapske Monday appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, a prominent Sinhala nationalist, as Prime Minister, though analysts suggest he might be replaced if a deal with other parties necessitates it.

However, the swearing in of the rest of the cabinet was delayed from Monday because of the horse-trading over jobs.

Eighteen ministers without cabinet rank and 29 deputy ministers were also sworn in Wednesday.

Former finance minister Sarath Amunugama, who presented a budget days before the election that now looks to be at least partly scrapped, was appointed minister for public administration and home affairs.

The previous budget, delivered days before the election, was seen falling short of some of Rajapakse’s manifesto pledges on subsidies for goods from milk powder to fertilizers.

“I think Amunugama is paying the price for being loyal to [Kumaratugna] in presenting a budget that she wanted and not that Mahinda wanted,” Rohan Edrisinha at Colombo’s Centre for Policy Alternatives told Reuters.

Kumaratunga is accused by Rajapakse’s camp of subtly undermining his election campaign.

The foreign ministry went to Mangala Samaraweera, who managed Rajapakse’s campaign. Samaraweera will also remain minister of ports and aviation.

Previous foreign minister Anura Bandaranaike, who is also Kumaratunga’s brother and also often criticised Rajapakse head of the vote, also lost his post as foreign minister.

A former media minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa got his old job back to head the Media and Information ministry.