An incident on 7 February in which three Sea Tiger cadre committed suicide near Delft Island, west of the Jaffna peninsula, by exploding their vessel, prompted urgent discussions on diffusing tension. Widespread concern has been expressed on the increasing number of confrontations between the Sri Lankan Navy and the Sea Tigers, which, if allowed to continue, may destabilize the peace process.
The parties also requested Ian Martin who participated in the sessions to prepare a roadmap on human rights for consideration at the sixth session of the peace talks in March. Mr Martin is a former Secretary General of Amnesty International and currently a vice president of the International Centre for Transnational Justice.
On 4 March, the LTTE and UNICEF signed an agreement on an Action Plan for children affected by the armed conflict in the north-east. This would include vocational training and psychosocial care. The Tigers agreed to end recruitment of children. An Accelerated Resettlement Programme for Jaffna (ARP) is in progress. Seven District Needs Assessment Panels comprising representatives of the government, the LTTE and UNHCR have completed preliminary needs assessments.
Despite positive developments, some problems continued to persist. LTTE’s Col. Karuna claimed that 35,000 houses in the north and another 500 in the east were within high security zones (HSZ) under the control of the Army. While assuring that the Tigers were committed to peace, he insisted that the military must vacate the homes of civilians in terms of the ceasefire agreement. Although the Army had earlier agreed to vacate Keerimalai and Maviddapuram areas in Jaffna, following commander Sarath Fonseka’s report in December, the plan was shelved. Lt. Col. Fonseka says withdrawal from HSZs, without LTTE decommissioning, would be a threat to national security.
Two days before the talks, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry announced that Dr Astrid N. Heiberg, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oslo, would be an advisor to the Sub-Committee on Gender Issues. On 28 February, the World Bank and the Sub-Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN) signed a Letter in Intent on the functioning of the North-East Reconstruction Fund (NERF).
While mutual cooperation sustained the peace process, President Chandrika Kumaratunge continued to blow hot and cold. At the Independence Day celebrations on 4 February in Colombo, she praised Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe’s government for taking the peace process forward. But in later public meetings, she launched attacks on the government, accusing ministers GL Peiris and Milinda Moragoda of dancing to the tune of the LTTE and deceiving the Sri Lankan people as well as the international community.
Despite an aggressive campaign, the no-confidence motion of the opposition parties against Defence Minister Tilak Marapone, on ground that law and order had deteriorated, was defeated by 40 votes in Parliament on 18 February. Tamil parties TELO and EPDP, who are supporters of the opposition People’s Alliance, voted against the motion.
Over 10,000 people participated in a demonstration against the peace process on 20 February by the opposition People’s Liberation Front (JVP) in Colombo. Police fired tear gas when JVP members attempted to march on Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s residence in Kollupitiya suburb. The following day, parliamentary proceedings were disrupted when JVP MPs carrying placards protested within the chamber.
On the first anniversary of the ceasefire agreement on 22 February, the north-east region came to a standstill by a hartal (general strike). People say that the ceasefire agreement has not been fully implemented, food, health and shelter problems remain and human rights violations continue. Although progress has been made in peace talks, human rights and the substantive issues underlying the conflict are yet to be discussed.
Sri Lankan writer Jehan Perera points to four challenges that still lie ahead: 1) As the readiness to utilize war as a means of attaining political objectives has not been totally discredited, there must be a shift from the mentality of war to that of peace. 2) Achieving bipartisan approach to the ethnic conflict has been a long-standing need and the government must find a way to win over the mainstream opposition to the peace process. 3) The mainstream society must change its mindset from Colombo-centric to regional-based thinking to pave way for a change from the unitary constitution to a federal one. 4) The LTTE must change its militaristic approach to power and progress towards democracy by embarking upon re-education of its cadre so that they do not order the people about and impose their views upon them.