The news that the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels have been persuaded by Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim to hold talks in Geneva next month has to be welcomed as a positive development; but it is not easy to be optimistic. Technically there is a cease-fire agreement in operation on the island but the reality is very different. It was observed more in its breaches for most of last year but since the beginning of last month it has been a myth. In the past seven weeks, more than 120 people — mainly Sri Lankan soldiers and sailors, but some civilians as well — have been killed in renewed conflict.
Solheim is going to have his work cut out for him if he is to bring the two sides back to sanity. Unfortunately, neither of them shows any desire to compromise. They give the distinct impression that they if they cannot have peace on their own terms, they do not want it at all. But both are shrewd enough to realize that they cannot afford to be seen to be responsible for the cease-fire breaking down. They want to put the blame on the other. Agreeing to go to Geneva, one therefore suspects, is merely a ruse — going along with the motions.
The accusation of dissimulation falls particularly heavily on the Tigers. Their chief negotiator Anton Balasingham said a few days ago that they “have pledged that there will be no acts of violence.” But that has not stopped them killing some 80 soldiers and sailors in six well-planned attacks since Dec. 4. If this is not violence, what is? Balasingham evidently has studied at the Humpty Dumpty school of communication; every word he uses evidently means precisely what he chooses it to mean. Instead he blames the violence on unnamed “people’s militias”. No one is taken in by the deception; the operations, some of them at sea, were too well organized. Moreover, the Tigers have their own well-armed navy, the Sea Tigers; there are no Tamil marine “people’s militias”.
The Tigers’ lack of commitment to the peace process was also evident in their earlier refusal to talk anywhere other than in Norway. That was clearly a ruse. Had they been genuinely interested in peace, they would have been happy to talk anywhere so long as security could be guaranteed.
What the Tigers want to do is provoke the government into violent repression so that they appear as the victims and the international community puts pressure on Colombo to concede to Tamil demands. It has not worked so far because the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has refused to be entrapped in this fashion. But it too cannot escape condemnation. There have been a number of atrocities since the beginning of December all of which suggest the security forces’ involvement; the most shocking was the murder of five young Tamil students in Trincomalee three weeks ago, all shot through the head. Altogether some 40 Tamils have been killed in suspicious circumstances in the past seven weeks. Even the government’s refusal to be provoked into reprisals has probably more to do with the blame game and needing to avoid being labeled guilty by international public opinion than a genuine attempt to maintain the cease-fire.
Such is the infertile circumstances in which Solheim will have to work. No one will blame him if, then, the Geneva talks fail to make headway and end the present murderous state on undeclared war. On the other hand, he is a determined operator. It was not easy getting the two sides to agree to talk again and try to make the cease-fire work, but succeed he did. We can but hope that he will pull off another success and make the two sides realize that neither can win this struggle that they both have to make compromises.
