Indonesia and Sri Lanka urged to seize tsunami chance for peace
Indonesia and Sri Lanka urged to seize tsunami chance for peace
Lawrence Bartlett Agence France-Presse/Putrajaya, Malaysia
Indonesia and Sri Lanka should seize the opportunity provided by the Asian tsunamis to end their long-running civil conflicts, Malaysian Prime Minister and head of the Non-Aligned Movement, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, told AFP in an interview on Thursday.
Abdullah, who is chairman of the 117-nation group of developing nations which includes both countries, said he believed the opportunity for peace talks was "excellent".
"I think that when people get together because they have a common problem, a shared grief, that is the kind of situation which we hope will bring a better understanding among them and pave the way for talks," he said.
Indonesia's Aceh province, scene of the worst devastation wrought by the Dec. 26 tsunamis with 220,000 residents dead or missing, has been in the grip of a separatist rebellion since 1976.
Sri Lanka, which was also badly hit with more than 30,000 people killed by the giant waves, has been fighting rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the country for three decades.
"The desire of most people is not to continue conflict but to find the most amicable solution, and this is the best time to do it," Abdullah said. "I think the opportunity is certainly excellent.
"Of course there has to be strong political will on the part of those involved to say let's talk about this."
Early hopes of reconciliation amid the tragedy wrought by the tsunamis have begun to fade, with Sri Lanka blocking foreign aid going directly to the Tamil Tigers and the Indonesian military showing reluctance over relinquishing its grip on Aceh.
However, a government team from Indonesia arrived in Finland on early Thursday for talks with leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement on hammering out a cease-fire during relief operations.
It will be the first time that the two parties have met since a truce broke down 20 months ago.
But with the agenda unclear, observers say the Helsinki talks, hastily convened under the watch of former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, may only help formalize cease-fires declared after the disaster rather than secure lasting peace.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, on Wednesday ruled out Tamil Tiger rebels receiving direct foreign aid for tsunami survivors and said all external help must go through Colombo.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga's spokesman Harim Peiris said there was no question of aid going directly to the Tigers, who have accused the government of blocking aid to areas held by them.
And Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said there had been no response yet from the Tigers to a government invitation to work together in delivering tsunami aid to people in affected areas of the island's north-east.
The remarks came a day after aid donors appealed to Colombo and the rebels to forge a united front in their response to the tsunami disaster.
Aid officials from the European Union, Japan, Norway and the United States who met in Brussels to review the island's peace process in the wake of the catastrophe stressed the need for unity.
The four participants, co-chairs of the so-called Tokyo Conference on Sri Lanka said in a statement that "in the midst of this tremendous natural disaster, renewed opportunities exist to build confidence and to strengthen the peace process".
The Tigers and government troops, after battling for decades, have been observing a truce which Norway arranged in February 2002. But peace talks have been deadlocked since April 2003.