The road passes through territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Army launched Operation Jayasikurui (Certain Victory) in May 1997 to open a route to Jaffna, but captured the road only up to Mankulam, 26 miles north of Vavuniya. A crossing point for food lorries and civilians was opened at Mankulam in August 1999. But the military was pushed back to Vavuniya in LTTE's Operation Oyatha Alaigal III in November 1999. Pramanalakulam, 12 miles west of Vavuniya town, became the new crossing point the following month.
The Vavuniya-Jaffna road will now be opened up to Mankulam, but the LTTE have declared readiness to open the road up to Jaffna. However, they have demanded the removal of the Eluthumadduval military base, which lies near the road, 18 miles east of Jaffna town, within the peninsula.
The Norwegians continued peace diplomacy in early February to resolve the differences between the two parties on the ceasefire agreement. The contentious issues appear to be movement into territories held by each party and fishing rights in the north-east. The Norwegian delegation led by Deputy Foreign minister Vidar Helgeson arrived again in Colombo on 8 February for meetings with the Sri Lankan government and President Chandrika Kumaratunge. The delegation also held talks with LTTE Advisor Anton Balasingham four days later.
The breakthrough came on 22 February, when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and LTTE leader V Prabhakaran signed a permanent ceasefire agreement. (see Sri Lanka Monitor Briefing of March titled ‘Accord heralds new phase’). Some observers suggest that Mr Prabhakaran deliberately signed the copy of the agreement sent for his comments, to keep President Chandrika out of the way.
The President was outraged and is said to have declared that she had the power to invalidate the agreement. Later, a press release by the presidential secretariat denied that she made such a statement. She accused the Prime Minister of not notifying the Cabinet about the agreement. Mr Wickremasinghe says that he had earlier briefed her and that she was absent when the Cabinet discussed the agreement on 20 and 21 February.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on 1 March, Chandrika severely criticized the agreement, stressing that it had been signed in an unconstitutional manner. She argued that some articles of the pact could impinge on national security and compromise the island's sovereignty. Sinhalese nationalist organisations filed a petition in the Supreme Court in late February alleging that Prime Minister Ranil had usurped the powers of the President, thus violating provisions of the Sri Lankan constitution.
The Tamil political parties have condemned President Chandrika saying that her stance would plunge the country again into war. The President has declared many times that finding a solution to the ethnic conflict is her sacred duty. The Tamil parties point out that in 1994, Chandrika signed a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE, without consulting the then President DB Wijetunge.
As local difficulties continued, a number of foreign governments and international agencies welcomed the agreement as a hopeful sign of peace. British Foreign Office minister Ben Bradshaw called on all parties to build on the agreement and make progress towards a negotiated settlement that meets the aspirations of all communities.
A team composed of members from Nordic countries, named the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), will monitor the ceasefire. The Norwegian head of the SLMM, Maj. Gen. Trond Furuhovde, arrived in Sri Lanka on 2 March for talks and to begin work from 6 March.
A day before the ceasefire agreement, a serious clash took place at sea between the Sea Tigers and the Navy, for the first time since the LTTE declared a ceasefire in December. The fighting is not expected to affect the peace process. But President Chandrika says that the agreement is inadequate on rules of engagement at sea and naval powers regarding interdiction of illegal arms shipments.
In early February, the President also expressed concern over reports that the LTTE is continuing to forcibly recruit children. She called on the Tigers to abide by the commitments made to the UN in May 1998. Foreign minister Tilak Marapane claims that he had not received any complaints regarding recruitment of children by the Tigers.
In order to cash in on its current popularity following the ceasefire, particularly among the minorities, the government announced local elections for March. The LTTE expressed concern and the Tamil parties opposed the move saying that it is unreasonable to hold elections with the current level of internal displacement in the north-east. In mid-February, the government tabled amendments to the local government election laws in Parliament, to facilitate the postponement of the elections in the north-east.