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13-09-2006

Global players 'moderately optimistic' on Sri Lanka

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) The international community overseeing Sri Lanka's peace process is "moderately optimistic" despite announcing that the Tamil Tigers and Colombo will return to torturous negotiations.

The grouping of countries known as the co-chairs as well as India have their fingers tightly crossed even after the declaration that the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will meet in Oslo early next month.

The LTTE conveyed its readiness to talk to peace facilitator Norway just before the Brussels meeting.

"We are moderately optimistic," a senior member of one of the countries told IANS from Brussels after a meeting of representatives from the US, Norway, Japan and the European Union who later exchanged views with Indian officials.

"The reality is there is an element of sincerity and an element of insincerity in both sides," the source said, underlining the difficult path ahead because of persistent high levels of suspicion between Colombo and the LTTE.

Another representative echoed the sentiment: "There is some reason for optimism. But it is very hard to tell how things will go."

The Brussels announcement brought some cheer to international players who saw the 2002 Norway-brokered truce crumble bit by bit amid terrible fighting in the island's northeast that killed hundreds and displaced over 200,000 people.

But the first hurdles to early talks have already emerged, with Colombo saying it was not ready for "unconditional talks" and criticizing Norway for allegedly trying to rescue the LTTE at a time when it was facing military reverses.

Until the co-chairs met, few had expected any breakthrough. Sri Lanka seemed intent on continuing its offensive against the Tigers after capturing Sampoor town in the east while the LTTE refused to talk until it got back its lost base.

According to diplomatic sources, four main strands came to the fore in the run up to the Brussels talks.

These were Colombo's military onslaught that dealt major blows to the LTTE, Norway's behind-the-scenes diplomacy, the crackdown on LTTE in the West, and the global community's refusal to support Sri Lankan war efforts beyond a point.

Norwegian special envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer was in touch with the LTTE while Norway's Development Minister Erik Solheim spoke to President Mahinda Rajapakse last week. Both sides were told there was absolutely no support for war.

The crackdown on LTTE activists in the US last month, on top of the crippling ban by the European Union and Canada as well as Japan's growing anger vis-à-vis the Tigers, also played a role.

And last week, the European Parliament condemned the "intransigence of the LTTE leadership" and urged member states "and the wider international community to take robust and determined action" against the Tigers.

Most significantly, it also called upon LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and the breakaway LTTE leader Karuna to start peace talks with Colombo, placing the two sworn enemies at par.

Sri Lanka was told that it needed to give a respite on the military front to ease the massive human suffering in the northeast where over 200,000 people have become displaced due to fighting. Thousands more face acute shortages.

The priority of India, which remained in touch with Norwegian facilitators and the Sri Lankan government, was to ensure that the ceasefire held and Colombo and the LTTE adhered to it scrupulously.

But in the light of previous experiences, no one is really celebrating - yet.

Source--Indo-Asian News Service