Sri Lanka Keen to End Another Fiasco

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Sri Lanka Keen to End Another Fiasco

Sri Lanka's warring sides launched their first internationally-backed peace talks on Monday with a strong pitch to end ethnic bloodshed, but the history of the conflict is stacked against them.

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Sri Lanka's warring sides launched their first internationally-backed peace talks on Monday with a strong pitch to end ethnic bloodshed, but the history of the conflict is stacked against them.

An opening ceremony hosted by the Thai Government went off smoothly at a resort near the naval base where the talks will be held, but diplomats say the path to peace will not be smooth and the challenge is to ensure history does not repeat itself.

Four previous attempts at ending Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict ended in failure and on each occasion the fighting erupted at a much stronger intensity.

More than 60,000 people have been killed since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas began their armed campaign for an independent homeland in 1972.

The troubles ahead were underscored by the rebel's chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, who said they were aware of "powerful political forces" in Sri Lanka which were opposed to peace and ethnic reconciliation. "All previous attempts to seek a peaceful negotiated settlement to this intractable conflict ended in fiasco," Balasingham said, adding however that the situation had now "drastically changed."

He is banking on the new political leadership of the Colombo government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to make good on a promise to deliver peace when he came to power in December.

The government's chief negotiator G. L. Peiris said the negotiations, arranged by Norway and supported by the United States, Japan, India and the European Union, were not a "zero sum exercise."

"It is not a question of winner taking it all... These negotiations cannot be pursued on the basis that the gain accruing to one party involves reciprocal loss to the other," he said.

Peiris also noted that "no quick fix" was feasible although both sides had committed themselves to a negotiated settlement.

Officials and diplomatic sources say the task ahead is formidable and the immediate concern is to strengthen and stabilize the Norwegian-brokered truce that went into effect on February 23.

There have been allegations of violations of the truce by both sides, but the Norwegians said the breaches were not serious enough to jeopardize the entire peace process.

The United States has warned the international crackdown against terrorism could be extended to the Tigers if they threaten the peace process.

Before venturing into the latest peace bid, the Sri Lankan Government called for an "international safety net" in case the rebels pull out of talks and go back to fighting.

Both the government and the Tigers have sought increased international financial aid to rebuild the island's embattled northern and eastern regions, saying people want an immediate peace dividend to strengthen the process.

It took the Norwegian peace brokers more than five years to get to Monday's meeting where both sides went before the international media with a simple inauguration ceremony marking the start of formal talks.

The two sides are to spend a total of 12 hours of talks till today at a Thai naval base here to arrange an agenda for their future discussions. For the Norwegians, Monday's meeting marks only the "end of the beginning."

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