Few more snags on road to Geneva

Army trucks mounted with Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRL) at yesterday's Independence Day parade. Photo: Gemunu Wellage

Representatives of the Sri Lanka Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are likely to meet in Geneva on February 15 and 16.
The Government considers these two dates as auspicious and have made it known to the Norwegian peace facilitators. Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar will fly to Kilinochchi in the coming week for talks with LTTE Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan. Besides the confirmation of dates, he is to discuss a number of other crucial issues concerning the upcoming talks.
One is the all important question of who will pick up the tab for LTTE delegation's travel and accommodation expenses for the Geneva trip. In the past, the Norwegian facilitators have made financial contributions to the Peace Secretariats of the Government and the LTTE. The latter has been using such funds for their travel and accommodation expenses.

However, senior members of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Government bitterly criticised Norway for funding the LTTE. Hence, Norway which has been invited by the Rajapaksa Government to resume their facilitator role wants to be transparent on the issue. Will the Government of Sri Lanka meet LTTE costs or will it have to be the Norwegians again will be determined at the talks in Kilinochchi. An expression of inability by the LTTE may prompt Norway to seek formal Government approval before initiating action. This is to obviate any further criticism on Oslo about providing financial support.

Reliable reports from Wanni say the LTTE leaders want to ask Norway to assist their delegation to Geneva, to travel to some capitals of European Union member countries. This is to meet the Tamil diaspora there. They argue that the European Union travel ban only applies to members of the LTTE meeting Government leaders or officials of the EU and not Tamil groups. However, an official EU Declaration on September 26, 2005 said "The European Union has agreed that with immediate effect, delegations from the LTTE will no longer be received in any of the EU Member States until further notice." The LTTE also plans a fund raising campaign through these groups.

After peace talks were stalled in April 2003, this is the first time a Government and an LTTE delegation are scheduled to meet in Geneva. This followed the dramatic breakthrough Norway's Special Envoy and International Development Minister Erik Solheim achieved last month with LTTE leaders including its head, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The euphoria generated by this breakthrough, though not without significance, was reminiscent of the days in February 2002 when then Prime Minister and United National Party leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe signed the Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE. In the next 17 days, the CFA will be four years old. It has again led to a belief or feeling that permanent peace has arrived. Nowhere is it more reflected than in the higher levels of the Government.

But the reality is entirely different. It is true that the LTTE that insisted on Oslo or nothing as the venue for the talks came down several notches in agreeing to Geneva. This was only because of Norway's own diplomacy, both through the international community and directly with the LTTE. Particular mention has to be made of the United States. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns also set the stage through a toughly worded message to the LTTE. Hence, by dramatically shifting its stance on the venue, the LTTE set to achieve a "diplomatic victory". It was heeding the pressure of the international community and "demonstrating" its flexibility in wanting to talk.

As for the substance of the talks itself, there is no change. During last November's presidential election campaign, Mr. Rajapaksa pledged to re-negotiate the Ceasefire Agreement. To back up his case, he cited an example. He said as Prime Minister then, if he wanted to travel to any country, he could call upon his security detail to accompany him. However, if he wanted to visit the holy precincts of the Madhu Church in Mannar, he would have to leave behind his security detail. In other words he would have to depend only on the security of Tiger guerrillas, a position that he wanted changed.

This, however, has not become a reality. All that while, the LTTE firmly insisted it was strongly opposed to any move to amend the CFA. LTTE's chief peace negotiator, Anton Balasingham, spelt out the purpose of the Geneva meeting at a news conference (on January 25) shortly after Solheim-Prabhakaran talks. He said it was for the "smooth implementation" of the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. In other words the talks will focus almost entirely on an issue the LTTE has consistently insisted upon - the purported proper enforcement of the CFA.

The LTTE has argued that article 1.8 of the Ceasefire Agreement has been repeatedly violated by the armed forces. This article states: "Tamil paramilitary groups shall be disarmed by the GOSL by D-day + 30 at the latest. The GOSL shall offer to integrate individuals in these units under the command and disciplinary structure of the GOSL armed forces for service away from the Northern and Eastern Province." One such paramilitary group which the LTTE has shown serious concern since April 2003 is LTTE's renegade Eastern group led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna.

Eminent lawyer S.L. Gunasekera, who is one of those due to brief the Sri Lanka Government delegation to the Geneva peace talks, contends that the CFA made no reference to a Karuna faction when dealing with paramilitary groups. This was because Karuna was very much a part of the LTTE and was a member of the LTTE delegation to peace talks until they were suspended. Hence, he believes that the LTTE has taken upon itself to brand Karuna and his associates as a paramilitary group after he broke ranks. This again was after they first took up the position that the reneging of Karuna was an "internal matter" of the LTTE.

Apart from the Karuna faction, the LTTE has catalogued a number of other issues. In fact they set the stage in Colombo early this week for their campaign for the "smooth implementation" of the CFA talks in Geneva. More on that subject later. If the nuances of this campaign were lost on the Government, the fog of euphoria appears to have further clouded its visibility over another important issue - the kidnapping of members of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in the Batticaloa district.

According to the TRO, seven of their staff members are still missing from two separate incidents of kidnapping. They alleged that five staff members travelling from the Batticaloa office to Vavuniya on January 31 were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen after passing through Welikanda (Polonnaruwa district) Army checkpoint around 4 p.m. The incident occurred when 14 TRO members, ten women and four men, and a hired driver departed from Batticaloa, registered at the Army checkpoint. They were continuing their journey when a "white van" forced their vehicle to stop near the checkpoint. Five men, aged between 20 and 25 reportedly carrying small arms, got out of the white van and entered the TRO vehicle.
One of them reportedly dragged the driver out, dumped him into the back seat and began driving into a nearby jungle. After being interrogated under a tamarind tree, they were brought back to the main road. Nine were released. Five persons including Thanuskody Premini, TRO Chief Accountant for Batticaloa (and a student at the Eastern University) were detained.

The TRO alleged that a second group of four persons and a driver from the Pre School Education Development Centre (PSEDEC) and TRO had travelled from Kilinochchi to Batticaloa. This was to carry out assessment of the Norwegian Refugee Council-funded Temporary Pre-School Construction Project for tsunami welfare centres. The TRO alleged that they too were abducted at the same point where the previous TRO group was taken.

The first Government response came in a Government Infomatation Department press release issued on January 31 - the same day the second group was abducted. Among other matters the statement said "Media reports have alleged that five members of Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) an organisation with links to the LTTE, have been abducted on the A-11 road yesterday afternoon close to the Welikande checkpoint.
"The Government categorically denies any such incident close to the Welikande checkpoint. There are no records of Police entries or statements made to any Police stations and Army detachments regarding this incident…."

Even before a proper check of what happened could be ascertained, the Government has hurriedly rushed with a press release. This is in the firm belief that a denial through such a press release meant positively that nothing has happened or what has been said is wrong - a syndrome that is a left over of the former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's regime. Our Political Editor deals with the Government's predicament on press releases on the opposite page. Instead of solving the Government's problems, they seem to be immersing President Rajapaksa's two month old Government into a serious crisis of credibility.

If the Government doubted the TRO claims and chose to rush with press releases with a categorical denial, many others took the issue seriously. On January 31 the United States Embassy in Colombo declared "it is concerned about the reported January 30 kidnapping of five members of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) at Welikanda in the Polonnaruwa District. The Embassy urges the relevant authorities to rapidly investigate these allegations. The Embassy again calls on all parties to exercise restraint and calm, especially in the run-up to the ceasefire talks in Geneva."

The UN Resident/Humanitarian Co-ordinators office said: "The United Nations agencies in Sri Lanka deplore the reported abduction of 10 humanitarian aid workers employed by Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), an aid organisation registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, and call for their immediate release."

The TRO was bombarding the offices of Colombo diplomatic missions and international agencies about matters relating to the kidnapping.
On Monday, January 30 two female accountants who were in the second batch abducted were released. These and other related developments prompted state intelligence agencies to report that complaints of abductions were credible and warranted further investigation.

Needless to say a hurried press release with a categorical denial did not help much. Adding to this unfortunate situation were remarks by Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera. He declared at a news conference on February 2 that the TRO claim on the abduction of five of their members contains a lot of discrepancies and irregularities. However, he said the Government was committed to inquire into the allegations for the sake of the peace process.

"I can assure you, the President and his Government will not allow anyone to sabotage the talks which will resume after three years," he asserted. He announced that two DIGs, four Senior SPs and 20 investigators together with intelligence units were probing the abductions.
But in the Tiger guerrilla stronghold of Wanni, their leaders were reading other messages. The hardliners who failed to pressure leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to resume hostilities were questioning the purpose of taking part in the Geneva talks. Their argument - how could we have trust in an administration that does not believe our word, our complaint of abductions?

One disturbing development in this regard came when a so-called Pongi Elum Makkal Padai (Upsurging People's Force) handed in a statement to Jaffna-based Tamil newspapers on Friday. The statement by this group, widely known as a front arm of the LTTE, asked for forbearance from the LTTE and the international community, for their plans to crackdown on enemies who were standing in the way of peace. They were alluding to a possible crackdown on so-called paramilitary groups - a move that could trigger off heightened violence in the East. That is ahead of the Geneva talks.

It was this same Pongi Elum Makkal Padai that claimed responsibility for the claymore mine attack on a Navy convoy at Nadukuda near Talaimannar in which 13 sailors were killed. The incident took place on December 23 last year. The LTTE has blamed civilian groups for a spate of incidents in the weeks before Erik Solheim worked a deal for talks in Geneva. Intelligence circles are puzzled whether Friday's notice by this so-called force is an indication that Tiger guerrillas will first crack down on what they call the actions of paramilitary groups before discussing the CFA with the Government. Heightening fears of such a move are reported preparations by the LTTE to secure the release of those abducted.

In this backdrop, a pro-LTTE website also posted a report to counter some news agency accounts that the guerrillas had agreed to February 15 and 16 as the dates for talks in Geneva. The pro-LTTE Tamil website Puthinam quoted the head of LTTE's Peace Secretariat, S. Pulithevan as saying that the LTTE is yet to agree on a date. He was quoted as saying that Anton Balasingham was in touch with Norwegian facilitators but has not yet agreed upon exact dates. He was also quoted as saying that the Government should create the peaceful climate for such talks by halting searches, abductions and what he called harassment of Tamils.

The Government, however, is going ahead with its plans for the Geneva talks on February 15 and 16. Its delegation is to be led by Health Minister, Nimal Siripala de Silva and will include Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Rohitha Bogollagama, Faisz Musthapa, Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda (Commander of the Navy), an Army representative and a lawyer. A team of supporting staff who will not participate in the talks but help the Sri Lanka delegation will also travel to Geneva.

The Government has set apart February 7 and 8 as dates on which the Sri Lanka delegation will receive complete briefings to be prepared for talks. The Government wants to secure the help of an Indian journalist, M.R. Narayan Swamy, the author of the book Inside an Elusive Mind - Prabhakaran. This is said to be intended to give the members a brief on the psyche of the LTTE leader. Both the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Jathika Hela Urumaya have also been allotted time to make presentations to the delegation on their own perspectives vis a vis the upcoming talks. Among others who will talk to the delegation are officials from the Peace Secretariat and a team of leading lawyers.

Early this week, the LTTE appeared to have set the stage for Geneva talks by urging the TNA to catalogue a string of incidents that occurred during the ceasefire. Last Wednesday, the TNA issued a three-page statement detailing out several incidents and accusing the Government of failing to take action or carry out "proper and meaningful" investigations. The Government learnt that they planned a protest campaign inside Parliament on Thursday reportedly to disrupt sittings. However, Parliament was forced to adjourn after a few minutes due to the reported presence of a trace of explosives inside.

And now, the Welikanda abductions have taken the centre stage with clouds looming over a date for the Geneva meet.
A formal announcement on the date for talks rests in the hands of the Norwegian peace facilitators. They in turn await the concurrence of the dates offered by the Government. Ambassador Brattskar travels in the coming week to Kilinochchi. That holds the answers to many a question about war and peace.

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