Chandrika talks peace

Billion-dollar war budget for 1997

SPECULATION mounted over new= peace moves as President Chandrika Kumaratunge laid down two conditions in= early November for resuming talks with the insurgent Liberation Tigers of= Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In press interviews she again announced that the Sri= Lankan government was ready to use third party facilitation for= negotiations.

The President says the LTTE must indicate its= willingness to lay down arms before talks could begin. The Tigers also must= agree for a fixed time frame for negotiations to prevent LTTE using a= ceasefire to regroup and rearm as on previous occasions.

The Tigers,= celebrating the annual Maveerar Varam or Great Heroes Week from 20 November= to honour LTTE martyrs, predictably rejected President Chandrika=92s offer.= In his Heroes Week message LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran declared= grave doubts about peace offers from a government that is making every= effort to have the LTTE banned in Sri Lanka and abroad. Mr Prabhakaran= imposes his own condition for talks - withdrawal of the Army from Jaffna -= and declares ominously that no liberation war was won without death and= destruction.

In an interview with the BBC while on an official visit= to Paris, President Chandrika said she was not surprised at the rejection,= describing the Tigers as opportunists and "paranoid about peace". The= President urged the French government to implement the G7 Lyon Declaration= on Terrorism and prevent LTTE fundraising and arms dealing on French soil.= The Sri Lankan government has denied involvement in the killing of two= senior Tigers in Paris in October, including head of international finance= Kandiah Perinpanathan. Paris was also the venue of the Sri Lanka-World Bank= Aid Group meeting on 18 November. The consortium of 12 aid donor nations= and multilateral agencies, while pledging $860 million in economic aid to= Sri Lanka for 1997, urged fresh peace initiatives without delay. There were= no conditions linked to human rights but the Aid Group emphasised that econ= omic reform and peace efforts must go hand in hand.

But the Sri= Lankan government currently believes that peace efforts and a war strategy= must go hand in hand. President Chandrika says that Prabhakaran must be= further weakened militarily to the extent that he has no other option but= to negotiate. Sources say some foreign intelligence agencies are working= with the Army. According to press reports a high-level US military= delegation arrived in early November to work out a plan to prevent arms= smuggling to Sri Lanka, after a Tiger ship unloaded large quantities of= weapons near Batticaloa.

Despite the rising cost of living the= government is pouring money into the war with the Tigers. Presenting the= 1997 budget in Parliament on 6 November Deputy Finance minister GL Peiris= allocated Rs 48 billion ($960 million) for defence. The National Security= Levy of 4.5% will continue for another year. Sri Lankan NGOs say the real= annual cost of the war is a staggering Rs 110 billion ($2.2 billion) with= its devastating effects on a divided society.

Architect of the= government devolution peace proposals GL Peiris is confident that approval= by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform (PSC) will= be achieved in time for constitutional amendments in April 1997. But= participating MPs say the PSC has not reached consensus on any vital issue= after eleven months of discussion. The Tamil parties are increasingly= disillusioned and say that they will not support the government=92s fragile= coalition in Parliament after April next year if there is no substantial= progress. Tamil parties say the government proposals fall short of Tamil= aspirations and continue to insist on the merger of northern and eastern= provinces into a single unit to represent the Tamils. Reports say Tamil= party EPDP leader Douglas Devananda has been offered a ministerial position= to retain his support. The EPDP has nine members in Parliament.

The= ruling People=92s Alliance (PA) also needs the support of the main= opposition United National Party (UNP) for constitutional changes which= require a two-thirds majority in Parliament. But the gulf between the two= parties is ever widening. Party supporters continue to clash in various= parts of the country. In a message to the international community, UNP= Chairman Karu Jayasuriya says that the people involved in a coordinated= campaign of violence against the UNP are connected to senior members of the= PA government.
Former Finance minister and UNP MP Ronnie de Mel says= that the government=92s November peace offers were aimed at the Paris Aid= Group rather than the LTTE. Mr de Mel called on the government for a= definite stand on third party mediation.

Meanwhile a cross-party= group of 23 Sri Lankan MPs who participated in a seminar arranged by= London-based NGO International Alert, in Northern Ireland in October have= urged the inclusion of the LTTE in the negotiating process while= recognising that an external facilitator may be necessary to restart peace= talks. Following the seminar, the moderate Tamil United Liberation Front= (TULF) launched a programme to gather more support among MPs for peace= talks and foreign mediation.

At least nine Sri Lankan Tamil= asylum-seekers including five women were killed when a hijacked Ethiopian= Airlines plane crashed into the sea off the Comoros Islands in the Indian= Ocean on 23 November. The Tamils were deported from Lagos and then from= Bombay where Indian officials refused entry. Some 52 of 175 passengers= survived the crash.
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