In the past week Sri Lanka's political leaders have been in travel mode, with External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris touring parts of Africa, while a TNA delegation has just returned from South Africa, where four parliamentarians attended the African National Congress (ANC) centenary celebrations.

South Africa was a conspicuous omission in Peiris' trip on account of Sri Lanka boycotting the event. The government was displeased with the invitation extended by the ANC government to representatives of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), thereby giving the organisation the kind of recognition that would seem to support its Tamil separatist/anti Sri Lanka agenda. In view of this situation, the TNA's decision to attend the event appears to have hit a nerve with the government. This does not augur well for the upcoming session of the government-TNA talks scheduled for Jan. 17, 18 and 19 -- part of the ongoing dialogue aimed at a political solution to end Tamil grievances.

It was widely reported that the TNA delegation, which included its leader R Sampanthan, was to hold talks with the GTF on the sidelines of the ANC event. Asked if this transpired, TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran who was part of the team categorically denied it, saying there were no talks with the GTF, official or unofficial.

The TNA's peregrinations abroad and their timing have been the subject of speculation at home on previous occasions as well. In April last year, shortly after the report of the UN Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka was leaked to the media, a group of TNA parliamentarians made a visit to Singapore. This was after Sampanthan hailed the controversial Report and issued a statement that seemed to endorse it. There was speculation that the TNA's trip was to meet up with representatives of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora. On that occasion it was reported that TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran denied having met any members of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) or the Tamil diaspora in Singapore.

In October a four-member TNA delegation visited the US reportedly on the invitation of the US State Department. They are reported to have met Wendy Sherman (US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs), Robert O Blake (Asst. Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs) and Stephen Rapp (Ambassador at Large for War Crimes issues). They also met with officials at the UN and others in Ottawa and London.

The nature of the relationship between the TNA and the overseas-based Eelam-oriented groups such as BTF (British Tamil Forum), GTF and TGTE continues to be a source of unease at home. Some ambiguity has been created in this regard by contradictory statements made by various groups claiming to represent Tamils.

In March 2010, the Canadian Tamil Congress was reported saying that Tamils had not given up their demand for a separate homeland, and claiming that the TNA had been misquoted in reports from Colombo which suggested otherwise.

"The TNA has been misquoted. They are in constant touch with us and what the media has put out is absolutely wrong. The TNA has not abandoned its four co-principles which include a separate homeland for Tamils," Canadian Tamil Congress leader David Poopalapillai told IANS here." (Daily Mirror 15.03.10)
However in an interview with the Sunday Observer on June 13, 2010 Sampanthan strongly disavowed having any links with the pro-LTTE sections of the Tamil diaspora and their overseas-based campaign to undermine the Sri Lankan state. To the question posed as to whether he saw "any need for Tamils to have a so-called transnational government when the situation in Sri Lanka remains peaceful" - he replied as follows:

"I have nothing to do with the transnational government. I have no contact with them. Such an organisation is not existing in Sri Lanka, but only outside the country. I don't wish to make further comment on it."
The TNA is the largest political group representing Tamils in Parliament, and the government-TNA talks are of critical importance for the reconciliation process to succeed. To this end, it would perhaps be helpful if the TNA made some effort to clear the fog of suspicion surrounding its relationship with the revenge-oriented, pro-LTTE sections of the Tamil diaspora.

At the same time, the question needs to be asked as to why Sri Lanka's diplomatic relations with South Africa have been neglected to such an extent that the government has been unable to make its case there regarding the liberation of the North and East from the clutches of the LTTE, and the post war reconciliation process. The Tamil Tigers were a ruthless terrorist organisation banned in many parts of the world, and a far cry from the ANC, a historic liberation movement.

It appears that the pro-LTTE sections have much better relations with the South African government than the Sri Lankan state - so much so that an invitation to the ANC's centenary celebrations was extended to an LTTE front organisation. One would have thought that the process of enlightening friendly states on the illegitimacy of such organizations would have been at the forefront of Sri Lanka's post-war diplomatic efforts. South Africa seems to have fallen through the cracks in this respect. Another event on the diplomatic calendar this week is a four-day official visit by India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna beginning tomorrow. It is reported he will visit Kilinochchi, Jaffna and Galle, after signing several bilateral agreements in Colombo. It is no accident that the dates of the Indian minister's visit coincide with the latest round of government-TNA talks.

The apparent impasse in the talks will no doubt figure in the Indian Minister's discussions.Asked about issues that will be taken up with Krishna, TNA MP Premachandran sounded a sceptical note saying "I don't know why he's coming, or what's on the agenda." Noting that India had been instrumental in starting the dialogue, he asserted that one year has passed and there has been no progress. "Not even an inch." The Krishna visit follows on the heels of the India-Sri Lanka joint working group meeting on fishing held on Friday and Saturday.

This too has been a highly sensitive and contentious issue in Indo Lanka relations. It is one area where one might have expected the TNA to make common cause with the government in pressing Sri Lanka's case, since it is the Tamil fishermen of the North and East who are most affected by the poaching in Sri Lankan waters by their Indian counterparts, and the resulting strife. But this has not been the case.A busy week lies ahead on the diplomatic front. In addition to the Indian delegations, four US government officials are scheduled to visit over the next two weeks to meet government officials and civil society representatives.