Sri Lankan government skeptical about rebels

By Anthony David

COLOMBO (DPA): The 18-year-old Tamil minority ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has reached an important juncture with moves by Norway to bring the rebels and the government to the negotiating table.

The Sri Lankan government and its people urgently require peace, with the war budget reaching high proportions and resulting in rising cost of living. Yet the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga is cautious about grabbing the opportunity for peace talks.

Rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), suffering setbacks on the military front in the northern part of Sri Lanka and facing a possible proscription in Britain, have expressed willingness for talks.

The Sri Lankan government also says it is prepared for talks, but is still skeptical above moves by the rebels to open talks.

Tamil rebels have declared a unilateral ceasefire, saying it would facilitate peace talks.

But the Kumaratunga government believes the rebels declared the ceasefire to gain more time to militarily strengthen themselves before moving to the next phase of fighting.

Rebels on previous occasions have broken off peace talks and renewed fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the northern and eastern parts of the country.

"The ceasefire is a ruse by the LTTE as they have been weakened by the army. They want to play for time," says Chief Military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratna.

The rebels on the other hand do not want to be perceived as weak and as a group which urgently requires negotiations to salvage their position.

"At no point should anyone consider us as weak. We can return to fighting," says the LTTE's chief spokesman Anton Balasingham who is based in London and takes part in talks with Norway's peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Erik Solheim.

Solheim has been shuttling between Colombo and London over the past three months trying to bring the Lankan government and the rebels to the negotiating table.

Both sides are aware that they cannot avoid the pressure from the international community to open negotiations as soon as possible.

With Sri Lanka seeking international aid to bridge a huge budget deficit created mainly by the high expenditure for war and the rebels getting branded as "terrorists" the pressure is on both sides to work out a negotiated settlement.

President Kumaratunga, who is on a European tour this week covering Germany and Britain, is likely to discuss the issue of aid and is expected to explain her position about peace talks with the rebels.

For the LTTE a British decision to consider proscribing the LTTE as a terrorist organization late last month is expected to affect their fund-raising activities in London.

Meanwhile the international community is prepared to spend up over US$700 million, the equivalent of 25 percent of the country's annual budget, to rehabilitate and reconstruct the north.

But all sides need peace to be restored in the strife-torn north before moving in for rehabilitation work.

International agencies have been operating in the north despite the continuing war which has affected their activities.

"We live in hope that the Norwegian-initiated peace process will work. We want peace and do not like to see the army staying on here," says Sundaralingam Mahadevan, a trader in Jaffna.

"The continuing war has caused lots of hardship to the people," he adds.

Government troops, with newly acquired additional firepower including multi-barrel rocket launchers, have been able to push back the rebels and restore control of the northern Jaffna peninsula, which the army nearly lost in May last year.

The purchase of additional weapons and more aircraft to fight the rebels has pushed the defense budget upwards to some $870 million for the current year.

With the Norwegian-initiated peace process on track and both the government and rebels being gradually drawn towards the negotiating table the chances of opening a new chapter remain high.

But the Kumaratunga government has been forced to follow a cautious attitude after talks with the LTTE failed in 1995 and rebels renewed fighting.

The abrupt end of talks in 1995 led to the conclusion among sections of population that the rebels cannot be trusted.

The rebels say they were forced to break off the talks as the government failed to keep to its promises.

A third-party facilitator such as Norway may help to rebuild confidence between the two sides, but analysts say more remains to be done before any talks can commence.