Norwegian-brokered talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government in Geneva this week look set to be acrimonious and confrontational, even though they are only centred on the February 2002 ceasefire agreement.
Whilst the LTTE has said it is wants to discuss the failures of implementation of the agreement, the government is at the last minute, reverting to demanding that the agreement be re-drafted. That, the LTTE says, is out of the question.
As this edition goes to print, the Sri Lankan delegation, which includes four ministers, the Navy commander and Police Chief and is led by Chief Negotiator Nimal Siripala De Silva would be arriving in Geneva, ahead of the talks on Wednesday and Thursday. The other ministers are Jeyraj Fernandopulla, Rohitha Bogollagama, and Feriel Ashroff.
The LTTE delegation, led by the movement’s Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Mr. Anton Balasingham is already at the venue, at the secluded Chateau de Bossey 22 km northwest of Geneva.
Apart from Mr. Balasingham and his wife – flying in from London – the other LTTE delegates arrived Saturday – to a rousing welcome from Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates in Switzerland.
Expatriate Tamils greeted the LTTE delegates upon their arrival at the airport with flowers and garlands. The airport was decorated with rebel flags of red and yellow. An estimated 35,000 Tamils live in Switzerland which has the largest ex pat Sri Lankan Tamil community after those in Canada, Germany and Britain.
Press access to the talks are limited to the opening statements by the Norway, the broker and Switzerland, the host, on Wednesday and to the media briefing immediately after the adjournment of the talks on Thursday, Swiss officials said.
The strict restrictions were imposed after the Sri Lankan government insisted on reducing the profile of the talks – the first face-to-face negotiations between the two protagonists since 2003.
Bus transport will be provided for registered press personnel from the Geneva Press Club at 7.00 a.m. Wednesday in time for the opening statements by the facilitator of the talks, Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim and Swiss Political Director of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Urs Ziswiler.
While the Sri Lanka government is proposing to present a draft of an amended Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) prepared by its legal team, LTTE Chief Negotiator Anton Balasingham said this week that his delegation had a mandate from the LTTE leadership only to discuss the implementation of the February 2002 CFA.
The central issue the LTTE is likely to raise, with regards non-implementation of the CFA is that of the Army-backed paramilitary groups which have been waging a ‘shadow war’ against LTTE members and supporters.
Amongst five groups the LTTE is expected to provide details on and demand the dismantling of – as per Clause 1.8 of the CFA – is the ‘Karuna Group’ named after a renegade LTTE commander who defected to the Sri Lankan armed forces after his rebellion against the LTTE leadership was crushed in a lightning offensive over the Easter weekend 2004.
President Mahinda Rajapakse, who last week, adopted a confrontational approach towards this week’s talks, warning the LTTE not to ‘push him to the wall’ has offered to ‘rein in’ – rather than disarm - armed groups operating alongside the military against the LTTE.
That is unlikely to satisfy the LTTE, which is likely to stand by its demand that Clause 1.8 of the February 2002 truce stipulates the paramilitaries should be disarmed and had provided a 30-day period to do so.
The mood remains one of tense hostility, despite the release of prisoners by both sides last week. The LTTE released two policemen in its custody and the government released four LTTE cadres. All the prisoners had been arrested last year after entering the other side’s controlled areas without notice.
“The most likely outcome in Geneva is not going to be war or peace, but another in-between option,” said Bart Klem, the Dutch co-author of a World Bank-funded report released last month, ‘Aid, Conflict and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka.’
But that may be an optimistic reading. Whilst the guns have been largely silent in the past two weeks, there is sporadic violence and the Northeast remains tense.
Normality is returning to northern Sri Lanka after the region went to the brink of war in January residents told Reuters, but many are awaiting the outcome of the this week’s talks: if they fail, the violence could erupt again.
Troops keep up a high presence on the streets of the Jaffna peninsula, dominated by the Tamil community, hemmed in by rebel lines and seen as a key objective for the LTTE.
Jaffna residents say some young men are still crossing into LTTE territory every weekend for military training. Further south in the de facto rebel capital, Kilinochchi, most say they hope talks will avert war, but others say it remains inevitable.
“There have been talks before and nothing has come out of it,” vegetable vendor Mutu Balu, 36, told Reuters as camouflaged LTTE vehicles drove past.
“The Sinhalese majority government will never concede to the Tamils’ demand and fulfill their rights to self-determination.”
“The violence of the army has stopped,” Tamil shopkeeper S Poobalaratham told Reuters as an armoured personnel carrier growled up the road. “We don’t hear firing, we don’t hear bombs and mines going off. We hope and pray this will continue.”
Reuters reports that many companies are waiting to see the outcome of the talks before investing in the $20 billion (11.5 billion pounds) economy, and trade on the local stock market has been volatile in recent weeks on intermittent fears of renewed hostilities and peace hopes.
Whilst the LTTE has said it is wants to discuss the failures of implementation of the agreement, the government is at the last minute, reverting to demanding that the agreement be re-drafted. That, the LTTE says, is out of the question.
As this edition goes to print, the Sri Lankan delegation, which includes four ministers, the Navy commander and Police Chief and is led by Chief Negotiator Nimal Siripala De Silva would be arriving in Geneva, ahead of the talks on Wednesday and Thursday. The other ministers are Jeyraj Fernandopulla, Rohitha Bogollagama, and Feriel Ashroff.
The LTTE delegation, led by the movement’s Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Mr. Anton Balasingham is already at the venue, at the secluded Chateau de Bossey 22 km northwest of Geneva.
Apart from Mr. Balasingham and his wife – flying in from London – the other LTTE delegates arrived Saturday – to a rousing welcome from Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates in Switzerland.
Expatriate Tamils greeted the LTTE delegates upon their arrival at the airport with flowers and garlands. The airport was decorated with rebel flags of red and yellow. An estimated 35,000 Tamils live in Switzerland which has the largest ex pat Sri Lankan Tamil community after those in Canada, Germany and Britain.
Press access to the talks are limited to the opening statements by the Norway, the broker and Switzerland, the host, on Wednesday and to the media briefing immediately after the adjournment of the talks on Thursday, Swiss officials said.
The strict restrictions were imposed after the Sri Lankan government insisted on reducing the profile of the talks – the first face-to-face negotiations between the two protagonists since 2003.
Bus transport will be provided for registered press personnel from the Geneva Press Club at 7.00 a.m. Wednesday in time for the opening statements by the facilitator of the talks, Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim and Swiss Political Director of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Urs Ziswiler.
While the Sri Lanka government is proposing to present a draft of an amended Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) prepared by its legal team, LTTE Chief Negotiator Anton Balasingham said this week that his delegation had a mandate from the LTTE leadership only to discuss the implementation of the February 2002 CFA.
The central issue the LTTE is likely to raise, with regards non-implementation of the CFA is that of the Army-backed paramilitary groups which have been waging a ‘shadow war’ against LTTE members and supporters.
Amongst five groups the LTTE is expected to provide details on and demand the dismantling of – as per Clause 1.8 of the CFA – is the ‘Karuna Group’ named after a renegade LTTE commander who defected to the Sri Lankan armed forces after his rebellion against the LTTE leadership was crushed in a lightning offensive over the Easter weekend 2004.
President Mahinda Rajapakse, who last week, adopted a confrontational approach towards this week’s talks, warning the LTTE not to ‘push him to the wall’ has offered to ‘rein in’ – rather than disarm - armed groups operating alongside the military against the LTTE.
That is unlikely to satisfy the LTTE, which is likely to stand by its demand that Clause 1.8 of the February 2002 truce stipulates the paramilitaries should be disarmed and had provided a 30-day period to do so.
The mood remains one of tense hostility, despite the release of prisoners by both sides last week. The LTTE released two policemen in its custody and the government released four LTTE cadres. All the prisoners had been arrested last year after entering the other side’s controlled areas without notice.
“The most likely outcome in Geneva is not going to be war or peace, but another in-between option,” said Bart Klem, the Dutch co-author of a World Bank-funded report released last month, ‘Aid, Conflict and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka.’
But that may be an optimistic reading. Whilst the guns have been largely silent in the past two weeks, there is sporadic violence and the Northeast remains tense.
Normality is returning to northern Sri Lanka after the region went to the brink of war in January residents told Reuters, but many are awaiting the outcome of the this week’s talks: if they fail, the violence could erupt again.
Troops keep up a high presence on the streets of the Jaffna peninsula, dominated by the Tamil community, hemmed in by rebel lines and seen as a key objective for the LTTE.
Jaffna residents say some young men are still crossing into LTTE territory every weekend for military training. Further south in the de facto rebel capital, Kilinochchi, most say they hope talks will avert war, but others say it remains inevitable.
“There have been talks before and nothing has come out of it,” vegetable vendor Mutu Balu, 36, told Reuters as camouflaged LTTE vehicles drove past.
“The Sinhalese majority government will never concede to the Tamils’ demand and fulfill their rights to self-determination.”
“The violence of the army has stopped,” Tamil shopkeeper S Poobalaratham told Reuters as an armoured personnel carrier growled up the road. “We don’t hear firing, we don’t hear bombs and mines going off. We hope and pray this will continue.”
Reuters reports that many companies are waiting to see the outcome of the talks before investing in the $20 billion (11.5 billion pounds) economy, and trade on the local stock market has been volatile in recent weeks on intermittent fears of renewed hostilities and peace hopes.
