EDITORIAL

All Change

A new agenda: a focus on old problems

The stalled Norwegian-brokered peace process in Sri Lanka received an unexpected fillip this week when the Liberation Tigers declared that they expected negotiations with the government to resume shortly, pending Colombo's proposals for an interim administration for the Northeast. Amid concerns heightened recently by renewed, albeit sporadic, violence (the most serious incident being the Sri Lanka Navy's sinking of an LTTE merchant vessel in international waters) the Tigers' announcement this week would be welcomed by those concerned with peace in the island. But it is most certainly not business as usual, as far as the future talks are concerned.

Firstly, the resumption of negotiations is predicated on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government drawing up concrete proposals for the interim administration that he has repeatedly told international forums he intends to set up with the LTTE. Indeed, the main stumbling block to Sri Lanka's peace process of late has been Colombo's reluctance to put forward a tangible framework for an interim administration which would endow the Tamils with sufficient powers to alleviate the considerable hardships they face. Reaching final agreement on a politico-administrative structure will not be easy. But with up to a million people unable to return to their homes the need to begin discussions on the matter is all the more urgent. The government's hesitancy in stating its opening position in black and white is understandable: President Chandrika Kumaratunga's threat to sack the United National Front government, should she deem its efforts to resolve the ethnic conflict too generous, cannot be taken lightly. But making peace - the UNF's central mandate - requires moral and political courage.

Also this week, the LTTE clarified what it means by the 'radical overhaul of the entire peace process' that it has been calling for in the past few weeks. The LTTE wants a rethink on both the modalities and the agenda of the negotiations. Both are based on the experience of the six rounds of talks held since September. In discussions with the Norwegian facilitators this week, the LTTE's Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, questioned the wisdom of the extraordinarily high profile given to the talks thus far. Whilst the publicity surrounding the inauguration last September of the first direct talks between the protagonists in seven years was understandable, as any student of negotiation could have predicted, unwarranted publicity has restricted both parties' manoeuvrability and made reaching agreements harder. More damagingly, as Mr. Balasingham pointed out this week, the publicity has unreasonably "generated expectations of substantial breakthroughs within a short period of time." Failure to deal quickly, a routine occurrence in lengthy, multi-stage negotiations, has resulted in unduly negative press coverage. It might be obvious, yet when the even anticipated obstacles are struck by the negotiators, the donor and investment community suffer an attack of jitters, whilst the peace process' many critics find fresh impetus. A shift away from high profile conferences - held invariably with media circus in tow - to a more discrete environment may be just what the peace process requires.

The LTTE has also criticized the 'excess internationalisation' of the peace process. In short, the agenda of the past six rounds have had less to do with the problems faced by Sri Lanka's residents than the geopolitical interests of extra-territorial powers. The issue of the internally displaced is a case in point. Whilst the Tamils and the Tigers have been seeking an agenda focussing on resettlement and rehabilitation, the disarming of the LTTE and curtailing of Tamil political aspirations have instead been given precedence. Indeed, it is the undisguised bias towards Sri Lanka's position exhibited by leading members of the international community that has raised grave doubts amongst the Tamils about the effective neutrality of the Norwegian-brokered peace process. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Balasingham insisted this week that discussions in the immediate future should be focused upon the 'existential realities of the ground situation' - the expansion of the agenda to other matters whilst up to a million Tamils continue to remain homeless deemed, quite rightly, unacceptable.

The surprise that greeted the Tigers criticism of the past six rounds of talks as 'a waste of time' is, in some ways, predictable. After all, the Sri Lankan government has secured $4.5 billion of aid whilst its war-ravaged economy continues to rise from the depths of the recession it was in two years ago. The Sinhala people have seen rapid normalization of the south. The international community has seen stability return to the region and credible signs of a permanent end to the conflict. Even Oslo, the facilitator, can claim success in one of South Asia's most intractable conflicts. But what peace dividend have the Tamil people received? Apart from an end to deaths, injuries and trauma resulting from war - a benefit accruing more from the cease-fire agreement than the negotiations themselves - precious little, in actual fact. Meanwhile, as the representatives of Tamil people, the Tigers are under pressure to deliver.

So the stage is set once again. Persistent Norwegian shuttle diplomacy has opened up new common ground and the LTTE is prepared to negotiate. But it remains to be seen if the Sri Lankan government will deliver the requisite opening proposals. We fear the optimism generated by the LTTE's positive signal this week must be tempered in the light of recent history: Mr. Wickremesinghe does not have a reputation for bold and decisive action.

People Power

Pongu Thamil reflects popular sentiments

The Pongu Thamil protest rally scheduled to be held in Jaffna this week is a continuation of a civil society phenomenon that began in the northern peninsula in 2001 under the guns of the Sri Lankan military. It subsequently came to represent the collective outrage of the Tamil people as it spread across the North and East. The initial call, incredulously now, was merely for the then Sri Lankan government to reciprocate the Liberation Tigers' unilateral cease-fire and for negotiations. Subsequently, the protests have demonstrated the latent support the LTTE enjoys from the Tamil community - prompting some shrewd repositioning by Sri Lanka's main Tamil parties - as well as highlighting the existential problems they face in the former war zones. Interestingly, from the outset, the Pongu Thamil rallies were downplayed, even ignored, by the Colombo-based domestic and international media. Furthermore, the reactions of the self appointed trustees of Tamil public opinion - most of whom were able to claim the role simply by defining themselves in opposition to the LTTE, was equally predictable: first derision, then resentful silence.

The game is different two years on. This week, the protesters will focus on highlighting the Sri Lankan military's continued occupation of homes and civilian spaces, and in doing so, articulate the immediate concerns of the vast majority of Tamil people. It remains to be seen what positions those who have pontificated of late on the role of civil society in Tamil political affairs will adopt on the matter. If the raison d'etre of civil society representation is to be considered, who, apart from the LTTE, is prepared to challenge the Sri Lankan state?