Norway says peace hopes at new low

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 18:02 GMT]
Hopes that the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers would soon restart peace talks plunged Wednesday after a top Norwegian envoy said there is “little reason for optimism” and warned of a resumption of the protracted ethnic conflict.

Vidar Helegesen

“The ground situation now gives little reason for optimism,” Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen told reporters in Colombo, after meeting LTTE officials and President Chandrika Kumaratunga this week.

“Peace talks in Sri Lanka are not likely to resume in the near future, but we're not abandoning the peace process,” Mr. Helgesen said, adding that the security situation was the biggest impediment to resume peace talks.

“The level of trust (between government and Tigers) is pretty low and the ground situation is not conducive to resume talks,” he was quoted by Associated Press as saying.

“The peace process is in its most serious situation for two- and-a-half years. Given that fact, I'm disturbed by this complacency and the fact that people tend to take peace for granted,” Mr. Helgesen was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The past two-and-a-half months had been the ''most dangerous period,'' he also said, referring to a series of killings in the island’s eastern province and the capital Colombo, in which LTTE cadres and supporters are being targeted by paramilitaries backed by the Sri Lankan military and counter-killings of the gunmen by the LTTE.

The upsurge in violence comes after a renegade LTTE commander, whose six-week rebellion in March was crushed by the Tigers in a lightening offensive over the Easter weekend, sought sanctuary with the Sri Lankan military.

The LTTE says the military is now assisting Karuna’s loyalists wage a covert war against their cadres and supporters and has begun hitting back.

On Sunday, seven of Karuna’s men, including his deputy, and a Sri Lankan intelligence officer were shot dead at a safe house in a Colombo suburb. The LTTE denied responsibility, however, blaming the internecine fighting amongst Karuna’s cadres.

Saying the current situation was very risky, Mr. Helgesen warned it could result in low intensity war if the killings continued, the BBC reported.

''The ceasefire agreement is not a peace agreement. It only means that the war has been frozen,'' Mr. Helgesen was quoted by AFP as saying. ''Today, a frozen war is melting at the edges. It is not a good situation.''

Both sides, he said, needed to understand there was no middle ground between a military solution and pursuing a peace process.

“People want peace but they don't want to support the peace process,'' he said. ''People must realise that nothing comes free.''

Mr. Helgesen’s comments came after he traveled to Kilinochchi to meet LTTE officials, the head of the political wing, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan and then briefed President Kumaratunga.

Mr. Helgesen said President Kumaratunga, who heads a minority government, needed more support from the other constituent members, an indirect criticism of the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) which has been opposed to the LTTE’s ISGA proposals.

The escalating paramilitary violence has pushed a long-standing deadlock over the agenda for future talks to the backburner.

The Tigers want discussions based on their proposals for interim self-rule, while the government wants ‘parallel’ talks on a final settlement. The Tigers say a final solution can be discussed after an Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) capable of addressing the humanitarian needs of the million displaced people is established.

President Kumaratunga’s office Tuesday said she “is willing and keen to commence negotiations on an interim authority within the framework of a united state and to reach a durable solution to the conflict.''

But with the JVP continuing a public campaign against the ISGA proposals, the LTTE remains suspicious.

“We want to see how the JVP react [to Kumaratunga’s offer],'' Daya Master, an LTTE spokesman told Bloomberg. “We don't believe they will agree to this. We will wait because we are committed to the peace process.”

The Sri Lankan rupee fell to a fresh record Wednesday, dipping to 103.55 against the U.S. dollar as investors fretted over Norway’s difficulties in reviving talks which stalled in April 2003.

Asked about Oslo's threshold for disengaging from the deadlocked process, Mr. Helgesen said: ''Norway is in it for the long haul.''