EDITORIAL

Fresh Gloom

The Sinhala far-right makes its mark

Tensions continued to rise this week across the Tamil homeland. In Jaffna, the Sri Lanka Army began extending its security network and imposed new restrictions on the movement of civilians, as did the Special Task Force in the eastern province. The Navy continued to harass fishermen at sea and imposed fresh restrictions on movement. The Air Force began extensive low-level surveillance in the Vanni, spreading panic amongst residents. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) continues to have work pile up amid a host of complaints.

Although most will undoubtedly be dismissed as unrelated to the ceasefire, it is clear that the process of de-escalation enshrined in the ceasefire agreement has slowed . Ten weeks into the truce, the military is refusing to budge from temples, schools and other public buildings in the Tamil areas. With direct talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government dependent on the full implementation of the ceasefire and the deproscription of the LTTE, negotiations are clearly not anticipated in the immediate future.

The Tamil language press, which has been covering the military's ongoing ceasefire violations, has also been managing expectations amongst the populace. The goodwill the newly elected government secured amongst the Tamil community by lifting the embargo and entering into a permanent ceasefire with the LTTE is gradually being eroded by the Sri Lankan military's conduct. The gloom that has inevitably begun to descend over the Norwegian peace initiative has been made worse by the events in the south where the Sinhala supremacist forces are sustaining an anti-peace drive which has now begun to rattle the United National Front government. President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) are doggedly pursing their efforts to derail the peace process - despite the evident lack of support amongst the Sinhala populace for their actions.

Nevertheless, as President Kumaratunga rallies her party, the UNF is having to work hard to secure the requisite support from the opposition benches to pass the cross over bill and other key pieces of legislation through Parliament. The power struggle in the Sinhala leadership is increasingly threatening the prospects for peace. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this week joined in the Sinhala nationalist rhetoric, vowing not to recognise the Tamil homeland and promising to place plans for an interim administration for Tamil areas before the Sinhala people for approval. Given the history of ethnic relations in Sri Lanka, there can be no doubt as to the result of any referendum on such matters. Whilst his comments might restore his Sinhala nationalist credentials, they have not done him any favours amongst the Tamils.

In such circumstances, there are inevitably those who will argue that moving rapidly to the next phase of the Norwegian peace initiative - direct talks - is the best way to sustain its momentum. We disagree on the grounds that it would be foolhardy to attempt further discussions when the first and most basic deal - the permanent ceasefire - is clearly not being implemented. In any case, the government, perhaps wary of Sinhala backlash, is still refusing to tackle the deproscription of the LTTE.

This alone vindicates the LTTE's position that this government is too unstable to offer any viable solution to the ethnic problem - and is hence incapable of dealing with core issues.

Clearly, if Mr. Wickremesinghe intends to pursue the Norwegian peace initiative to a successful conclusion, he will need to confront the Sinhala supremacists at some point. Now is as good a time as any. The Tamil community notes, with little surprise, that apart from the ruling UNF, most Sinhala parties are aligned in opposition to the peace process. The UNF's predicament is therefore understandable. However, the government does have enormous public support - across the ethnic divide - for its peace platform. With this being his sole trump card, it is incumbent on Mr. Wickremesinghe to remain demonstrably resolute on his strategy. Precious public confidence is seeping away as he dithers.

Jaundiced Eyes

Monitors, by definition, must be scrupulously neutral

Apart from the recent incidents of harassment by the Sri Lankan armed forces, life for the Tamil people in the north and east has significantly improved this year in the absence of general conflict. The lifting of the government's decade-long economic embargo and the curtailing of air strikes and shelling through the permanent ceasefire has dramatically reduced the suffering. The international monitoring has also resulted in a general reduction in arrests, torture and extra judicial killings.

The ceasefire agreement, while designed to halt the fighting and de-escalate the conflict, includes specific clauses to protect human rights, all of which is under the jurisdiction of the internationally-staffed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

The frantic lobbying for increased human rights monitoring in Sri Lanka which has recently emerged from some quarters therefore raises interesting questions. The call is for widening of monitoring beyond the ceasefire to human rights generally and for the SLMM to have its brief expanded, failing which for other organisations to be allowed to have a go. Suggestions have been made that United Nations agencies working in Sri Lanka could play a role. Amnesty International, we understand, has put itself forward. The argument is that increased protection of human rights would bolster the Norwegian peace process. But matters are not as simple as that.

Notably, those suddenly calling for increased protection of human rights in the Tamil areas - and a role for themselves - are the same voices which have over the years often failed to protest the countless incidents of torture, disappearance, murder, rape and assault of Tamils by the Sri Lankan armed forces - a few neutrality-enhancing murmurs notwithstanding. Furthermore, the self-appointed defenders of our rights have, by focussing disproportionately on abuses attributed to the Liberation Tigers, helped distort international perspective of the island's ethnic conflict. In doing so, they have provided Sri Lankan governments with the moral legitimacy to secure international military and financial assistance to continue their persecution of our people.

The embargo and war driven suffering in the north and east has been witnessed first hand by the United Nations staff that have maintained an unashamed silence for over a decade, insulating the Sri Lankan government from international criticism and thereby refuting the Tamil people's assertions of persecution. Whilst they may accord themselves greater accolades, international rights groups have singularly failed to halt atrocities by the Sri Lanka armed forces. As we have argued before, it is the LTTE's military stature, not international human rights lobbying, which has brought about the present tranquillity in the north and east.

In the past few weeks, there have been several incidents of military harassment of Tamil civilians - along with the customary silence from rights watchdogs. The continued and prolonged detention without charge of thousands of Tamils has (ironically, given Amnesty's origins) not warranted comment from those more preoccupied with a handful of unsubstantiated allegations of children being used as soldiers.

Given the history of human rights advocacy in Sri Lanka, it is clear that the primary objective behind the new pressure for increased 'monitoring' is to challenge or undermine the Liberation Tigers' bid to run the interim administration for the north and east, which the forthcoming direct talks in Thailand are expected to focus on.

This is not to say the LTTE is above the need to respect and protect human rights. But those clamouring to monitor the LTTE are the same bodies who have pointedly failed or refused to protest many violations by the Sri Lanka armed force and - in some well-known cases - made denigrating the Tigers their sole focus. The SLMM, by virtue of its performance thus far, enjoys the trust of both combatants and, crucially, the Tamil people. Those now coming forward to proffering to protect our rights - by virtue of their performance thus far - most certainly do not.