Divided over peace

Efforts to end the conflict in Jaffna have been stalled for lack of consensus on the modalities of negotiations. The murderous blast on September 11 has complicated the situation.

V.S. SAMBANDAN
in Colombo

FOR well over a month, Colombo was awash with expectations of a resumption of talks for a negotiated settlement to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. Separate statements by three important players - the Government, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Opposition United National Party (UNP), generated these hopes. President Chandrika Kumaratunga made the Government's position clear when she ruled out any form of mediation but said that there was scope for the involvement of a facilitator for talks with the LTTE. The Tigers' point of view was expressed through a letter written by its political committee to South African President Nelson Mandela, seeking his help to work out a negotiated settlement. This was followed by an interview published in a Sunday newspaper from Colombo, in which the leader of the LTTE's political wing, Thamilchelvam, reiterated the need for talks. The UNP, on its part, called for talks but demanded that the negotiations be unconditional, a demand which was rejected by the Government.

Although the inevitable game of one-upmanship on the correct approach to the question of negotiations followed, with the two major political groups, the ruling People's Alliance and the UNP, trading charges, the people had not given up hope.

It was at this stage that a bomb ripped through the Jaffna Municipal Council building on September 11, killing Mayor P. Sivapalan, Brigadier Susantha Mendis, Senior Superintendent of Police Chandra Perera and nine others. The bombing caused a rethink on the proposal for talks. Two shades of opinion are emerging now. One is that the blast has only re-emphasised the need for early and unconditional talks. The other is that any negotiation would further strengthen the rebels, who set off the blast in an act of desperation.

SRIYANTHA WALPOLA
The Jaffna Municipal Council building after the September 11 explosion.

The blast was a setback to the process of local self-governance that was ushered in early this year, and the concrete moves that were made towards good governance in the northern peninsula. It was also an apparent warning to the whole of the island-nation, particularly to sections of the Tamil people, by the Tamil separatists that any attempt by the military to move closer to the people of Jaffna would not be tolerated. Mendis' predecessor, Larry Wijeratne, who had established a rapport with the people of Jaffna, was killed on May 14 (Frontline, June 19). Perhaps it was this message from the Tamil Tigers that was discernible during a visit by mediapersons to the northern peninsula on September 11. The residents appeared resigned to the fact that political parties cannot reinforce democracy in the peninsula if they did not enjoy the confidence of the Tigers. The councillors, although sincere in their attempts to chalk out a solution to the crisis facing Jaffna, are under the close scrutiny of the Tigers.

While all these factors build up a case for involving the Tigers in a meaningful dialogue, observers have not overlooked the futility of such an effort in the light of the earlier experience in this regard: both the parties involved in the process have only played for time or broken their promises.

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Jaffna Mayor P. Sivapalan, who was killed in the blast at the Jaffna Municipal Council building.

Right from the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact, the history of negotiations as a method to resolve the strife is replete with instances of either side letting down the other. Both the rebels and the government have addressed the problem with incompatible mindsets. Added to this is the not-too-cooperative role played by the Opposition parties.

As part of the efforts towards a bipartisan approach to find a solution to the conflict, a workshop was held recently by Professor Fraser who played an active role in bringing the warring political groups in Northern Ireland to the negotiating table. But with the Opposition not too willing to play ball with the Government to push through the political package it had evolved, the impasse on constitutional reforms continues.

SRIYANTHA WALPOLA
Senior Superintendent of Police Chandra Perera, who too was killed in the blast.

Another dimension to the problem emerged when it was reported that the LTTE was considering shifting its base of international operations from the United Kingdom to South Africa. This report, viewed along with the separatists' appeal to Mandela, has given rise to the line of thinking that the rebels would seek inspiration from Mandela's own past as a liberation fighter.

Political observers in Colombo feel that the LTTE could gain the sympathy of at least some native South Africans who led a long struggle against white rule. The plans for a change of base have apparently come in the light of a tough piece of legislation that the U.K. plans to introduce with regard to terrorist activities.

AS of now, the expectations of talks with the Tigers are yet to recede from the political scene. However, there is no agreement among the political parties on what the talks should encompass. The Opposition's preference for "unconditional talks", the Government's position that the talks should be subject to certain conditions and the LTTE's demand for a cessation of hostilities as a precondition for talks do not have a meeting ground. Unless the two political parties, which have a crucial role to play in resolving the crisis, arrive at a consensus on the points to be negotiated, the proposal for talks will remain meaningless.

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