Norwegian efforts to restart negotiations between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government stumbled this week as Colombo stepped up its bombardment of LTTE-held areas whilst delaying its response to the Tigers’ reiteration they are prepared for unconditional talks.
And amid continuing Sri Lankan bombardment, press reports Wednesday said new controversies had arisen over the venue and dates for talks, with the Tigers agreeing to the international community’s suggestions of Oslo and the government now saying talks should be held in Geneva.
Amid continuing violence across the island’s Northeast, Norway's peace envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, met with Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, the head of the LTTE’s political wing, to press for an end to months of recent bloodshed and a return to talks.
Although press reports quoted Sri Lankan government officials as saying there were several conditions for talks, none had been put forward by the Norwegian diplomats, LTTE officials said.
The Tigers had again told the Norwegians they were prepared to unconditional talks but wanted the Sri Lankan government to stop its violence, officials said.
“Though it is not a condition, in the course of discussions with the Norwegian envoy we have raised the subject of the continuing unprovoked offensive by the Sri Lanka military and sought immediate halt to all military operations,” Daya Master of the LTTE Media Secretariat told The Hindu newspaper.
But even as Hanssen-Bauer was meeting with Mr. Thamilchelvan and other LTTE leaders, the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed areas nearby. The government claimed it was targetting LTTE artillery positions.
And on Wednesday the Air Force launched more raids against LTTE-held areas while Sri Lanka Army artillery and rocket launchers continued the bombardment that has been underway daily for several months.
The attacks damped hopes of an agreement on talks to end the violence which has killed over 1500 people this year despite both sides saying they are committed to the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA).
“The facilitator has run into some snags and the air attacks did not help,” a diplomatic source close to the process told AFP Tuesday. “Hanssen-Bauer has gone in for new talks with officials in Colombo to try and secure an agreement.”
Emboldened by the capture of LTTE territory south of the northeast harbour of Trincomalee, some military officials say they are keen to inflict as many casualties on the Tigers as possible before any talks, Reuters reported.
Apart from major clashes between both sides, human rights groups say death squads run by Army-backed paramilitaries and military intelligence operatives are abducting and killing dozens of Tamils every week in military controlled parts of the Northeast and even in Colombo.
“We are still extending our support to the International Community’s call for unconditional talks,” Mr. Thamilchelvan told reporters Tuesday after the meeting with Norwegian officials.
“Colombo is engaged in a unilateral offensive against the Tamil homeland,” he said. “There are no credible signs of improvement [in willingness to talks] from the Sri Lankan side.”
“A terror campaign of extra-judicial killings, forced disappearances in Sri Lankan military controlled areas, blocking access to humanitarian agencies, and the continued refusal to re-open the A9 route refusing a population of 500 000 civilians in Jaffna access to humanitarian supplies,” were all part of a “war of aggression,” and did not display any commitment to the Ceasefire Agreement, he said.
Responding to reporters’ questions, Mr. Thamilchelvan also said “Our future course of action depends on actions of the government. So far, we have been flexible for talks. But, Colombo seems to be locked in a military mindset.”
But on Tuesday the government, which weekend press reports said had put conditions on talks, refused to respond to the LTTE’s offer of unconditional talks.
“The government can't just say 'yes' or 'no', the government will have to carefully scrutinize the message sent by the (Tigers) and give a considered view and a response,” the government's chief peace negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva told reporters later Tuesday.
President Mahinda Rajapakse would make a final decision on whether to hold talks with the LTTE, he also said.
Despite weekend press reports saying the government had imposed fresh conditions for talks, other reports this week said that dates and venues were being discussed.
A source close to the negotiations told Reuters on Tuesday the Tigers agreed to talks in Oslo on October 28-30.
Amid deteriorating humanitarian crisis in much of the Tamil-dominated parts of the Northeast, LTTE officials said they wanted to resume talks at the earlier.
The Sri Lankan government, which earlier had said it was ready for negotiations after a day's notice, told now Hanssen-Bauer that the earliest the talks could start was October 30. The alternate date was November 10.
“These two dates are our preferences and we've conveyed this to Mr Hanssen-Bauer,” said Palitha Kohona, head of the government's Peace Secretariat.
This week’s meetings are part of Norway’s stepped up diplomatic efforts, backed by the other Co-Chairs – United States, European Union and Japan - to restart peace talks.
Following talks over the fraying truce in Geneva in February this year, a second round slated for April failed to go ahead after each side blamed the other for rising violence.
On Monday, Hanssen-Bauer held separate meetings with Sri Lankan officials Nimal Siripala de Silva, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Palitha Kohona, chief of the government's peace secretariat, reports said.
Over the weekend, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, Colombo’s chief spokesman on defence matters told the Sunday Times the government has imposed new conditions for talks with the Tigers.
The paper said the conditions are: “a specific time frame should be provided by the LTTE to resume and conclude peace talks; the LTTE should give an assurance to the international community and Donor Co-chairs of the peace process that it will not use sea routes to smuggle into Sri Lanka any military hardware and the LTTE should make a commitment that it would not resort to any violence during the period of the talks.”
Commenting on the LTTE's offer of unconditional talks if the government halted its military offensive, Mr. Rambukwella told the paper: “we have not resorted to any offensive action. The security forces are only defending themselves against the military actions of the LTTE.”
