Hiccups to the Peace Talks in Sri Lanka by N Manoharan

It is nearly two months since a new government took over on the island state. But, there are no signs of any revival of the peace talks stalled since March 2003. The two parties concerned Ã¢â‚¬â€ the government and the LTTE Ã¢â‚¬â€ differ on the approach towards the resumption of talks. While the UPFA government headed by Chandrika Kumaratunga insists on a “parallel” approach (talks should include both interim and final arrangements), the LTTE wants to exclusively address the Interim Self-governing Authority (ISGA) “to demonstrate to the (Tamil) people that their urgent humanitarian needs would be effectively met by the ISGA and will help to build confidence among the people who are the real stakeholders in the peace process.” The final settlement should only be taken up after seeing how the interim arrangement works. A “loud and clear” mandate to this effect was given to the LTTE-backed TNA in the recently concluded parliamentary polls.

The opposition UNP, which had earlier conducted six rounds of talks with the LTTE, is skeptical about the resumption of the peace process. Their main contention is that the present government does not command the requisite numbers in the Parliament to promote the process. The cooperation of all the political parties is therefore, necessary to bring the peace talks to their logical conclusion. There are many more potential hiccups (especially due to the JVP and the JHU, the monks’ party) that could occur once the talks resume. The Norwegians have been requested to renew their facilitation exercises despite this complex web of contradictions. A glance at the matrix provided below presents a difficult situation for Oslo to proceed with.

A Matrix of Hiccups

Actors	Specific Stand	Steps taken so far	Current status
UPFA (the Government)	Talks should take place, but discussions on the final and interim settlement should proceed simultaneously.	Green signal given to Norway to proceed with the facilitation	Consultations are on. Firm on approaching the issue simultaneously
UNP (the Opposition)	Talks should continue, but the government’s approach is “not good enough”	---	---
LTTE	Ready for talks, but on the basis of equal status for the LTTE acknowledging it as the sole representative for an interim arrangement	Conveyed its pre-conditions to Norway	Firm on its ISGA demand.
Sri Lankan Muslims	Muslims should have a separate representation in any future talks	Conveyed the demand to the government and the Norwegians	---
Norway (the facilitator)	Talks should continue	A round of consultations with the government and the LTTE has been completed.	---
India	Talks should continue; no direct participation in the peace process is possible	Conveyed its readiness to provide humanitarian assistance, even in LTTE controlled areas.	LTTE insists that all assistance in the “uncleared areas” should be made through its administrative apparatus. India does not want to have any dealings with the LTTE.
US, EU and Japan (the international community)	Talks must resume at the earliest; aid package is tied to progress the in talks	Continue to apply pressure on the government and the LTTE	Donors meeting is scheduled for 1 June 2004 at Brussels to discuss the status of $4.5billion pledged last year at a similar conference in Tokyo


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