Sri Lankan Govt, LTTE Agree to Keep Peace Process Going

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

Sri Lankan Govt, LTTE Agree to Keep Peace Process Going

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The Sri Lankan government and the country's rebellious Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agreed Wednesday to have more rounds of peace talks, continuing a process to end the country's 19-year-old civil war.

"The most important outcome of the talks is that we decided to go on with the process," G.L. Peiris, Sri Lanka's top negotiator told a press conference after the first round of peace talks between the two sides during Sept. 16 and Sept. 18 in eastern Thainaval base of Sattahip, 250 km southeast of Bangkok.

"Both sides are determined to bring the peace process forward and the key message of the talks is that this is a promising start for both sides to take practical steps to find a final solution," said Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen, broker of the peace talks.

As both sides agreed, three more rounds of talks will take place between Oct. 31 and Jan. 9 next year in venues yet to be decided.

The talks, the first ones in seven years, signals a landmark beginning in a process to end one of the contemporary world's longest and bloodiest internal conflicts which has claimed 64,500 lives and displaced 1.8 million people in that tiny South Asian state of 19 million since 1983.

The event followed a Norway-brokered cease-fire deal in February, which paved the way of the historic talks.

"The parties affirmed their determination to continue upholding the cease-fire agreement and expanding the range of confidence-building measures over the period ahead," said a statement issued by Norwegian brokers.

Based on the truce deal, the two sides agreed this time to set up a joint committee consisting of senior representatives from each side to tackle emergent issues in the war-torn areas in Sri Lanka's north and east, or officially-called "High Security Zones",it said.

A joint task-force will be also formed to carry out humanitarian relief work in those areas, focusing on clearing some1.5 million landmines there and facilitating the return of civilians displaced during the war.

To achieve the goals, both sides urged more financial assistance from the international community, but they are yet to figure out how much money will be needed.

"We also had preliminary talks on the setup of the interim administration in the north and east," said Peiris, noting that the government will try to fulfill "the LTTE's aspirations" under the precondition of "national unity and territorial integrity."

The LTTE, self-claimed defender of Sri Lanka's minority Tamils,has been fighting against government troops since 1983 for an independent Tamil state separated from the Sinhalese-dominated island nation.

However, the LTTE's top negotiator and ideologue Anton Balsingham said the organization is not playing with the concept of "a separate state," but "wants to realize the dreams of Tamil self-determination."

He insisted that the LTTE should lead the proposed interim administration in north and east of that country, but interests ofthe Sinhalese and Muslim communities there will also be "well represented."

Balsingham said LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who is in aunknown place of the Tamil-controlled areas, is "pleased with the remarkable and constructive success of the talks which will definitely continue."

As for the disarmament of the 6,000-strong LTTE with famous suicide attack squads, Balsingham said it is still premature to talk about it since the issue of the LTTE's political status must be solved first.

Responding to worries that the talks will backfire among some of Sri Lanka's non-Tamil population who oppose any concessions to the once-violent LTTE, Peiris said "no one dares to defy the overwhelming public will for peace."

The negotiators from both sides are expected to meet again by the end of next month, likely in the same venue provided by Thailand.

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