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.