Viewpoint

Sri Lanka on the brink

Sri Lanka's peace process has broken down in all but name, five years on from a ceasefire. An estimated 4,000 people have been killed in the past 15 months, despite the truce signed by Colombo and Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in February 2002. In one recent incident, several foreign diplomats were injured in rebel shelling, while land and sea battles between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continue almost daily.

Despite the unrelenting violence, Sri Lanka's government insists the door is still open for talks on ending the decades-old conflict. Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, who led the government team at peace negotiations last October, discussed Colombo's position with reporter Sen Lam.
The Sri Lankan government is always committed to a negotiated settlement for this issue and we believe that this issue could only be finally settled through a negotiation process.

But of course you know, you can't clap with one hand. You need two hands to clap. Simultaneously, that the LTTE too should respond positively to our call, because we are every ready and willing to negotiate with them, talk to them.

With that spirit we went to Geneva twice and our team went to Oslo once, where[as] they did not come to the negotiating table in Oslo.

But, wasn't one of the sticking points the fact that the Tamil rebels want the key A9 Highway linking the Jaffna Peninsula with the mainland to be reopened, because many Tamil civilians were suffering there. What was the main difficulty there in reopening this highway? Why did the government refuse?

Because they brought this issue of the A9 only on the second day. So, I told them that still there is room for negotiation - let us fix another date for discussions. But, they said, first open A9, then only they will talk, which is a very, very unreasonable condition because they came to Geneva to talk on the basis that they were coming unconditionally for talks. So they changed their tune when they came there.

And the other thing, the people in Jaffna are not suffering any more now because we have made alternative arrangements to take shiploads of goods, from India, as well as from Trincomalee, to Jaffna, although the LTTE was targeting the food vessels. But with all that we have managed very well to ensure that the supply routes are intact.

And yet, thousands of Tamil civilians have fled the island's northeast, particularly in Vavunia district, and they are feeling unsafe because they're caught in the crossfire.

No, that is false LTTE propaganda. You show me where thousands of people have gone. It is not so. All the people who went - a few hundred people who went - they have come back and they have been resettled well. This is just the LTTE slogan and propaganda. You show me where thousands have gone?

Isn't it a fact though, that your government is very sensitive to the opinions of the Sinhala and also the Buddhist communities. Now both communities are vehemently against any kind of peace deal with the Tamil Tiger rebels. How do you reconcile political pragmatism with wanting a lasting peace?

Yes, we are more concerned than you. Because people in the south, they are there for a devolution, because we have the whole party conference in Sri Lanka and the expert group where they have come out with the devolution package which we will finalise within next two weeks.

So, you can see for yourself. Just wait for two to three weeks. The devolution package which we are going to offer, not to LTTE, but to the reasonable Tamil people of Sri Lanka. So therefore, LTTE is fighting for a separate state which we are not prepared to concede at all.

Do you think the local Tamil communities in the northeast would be happy with a devolution package?

They would be very happy, but unfortunately they are under the grip of the LTTE terrorism. If they say they are happy, they will be assassinated, they will killed and they would be harmed.

We know the tactics of the LTTE, being a terrorist organisation. There is no democracy in the areas which are under their control.

What will it take for your government to return to the negotiating table and start talking again to the Tamil Tigers?

We are already in the negotiating table. You name a date tomorrow, I'll be there with my negotiating team.

It is LTTE who fled away from the negotiating table and who are not coming to the negotiating table. So therefore, you must ask the LTTE, but they can't impose conditions on the legitimate government. They must come to the negotiating table, place their grievances before us and discuss the devolution package, which should be announced shortly.

Of course, because the United National Party, where they have about another 48 members in their pocket, they too have said, irrespective of the political differences which they have with us in the economic management, that they are prepared to support us in the devolution process.

Therefore it is very timely for the LTTE to come into the negotiating table and grab this opportunity to sort out this matter.

This Viewpoint is based on a interview conducted with Sen Lam and broadcast on Radio Australia's Connect Asia program on February 28