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Security News:
All geared up for Geneva peace talks
By Namini Wijedasa
The Island
Publication Date : 2006-02-19
While agreeing that the Geneva talks must concentrate on strengthening the infirm cease-fire agreement in Sri Lanka, it is likely that both sides will focus next week on drafting an agenda for continuing negotiations, a member of the government delegation said recently.
"I don’t really see this discussion taking up substantive issues," he said, asking to remain anonymous. "We don’t even have a detailed agenda yet. Obviously, we will have to set out an agenda so that we have a clear understanding about what we are going to discuss.
"That will probably be the first step in this whole exercise," he elaborated. "We must identify what topics to address and how to address them."
In recent months, relations between the state and LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) have been acrimonious at best. Asked how the government team hoped to break the ice and get the talks off to a good start, another delegate jested: "We’re going to walk in smiling."
The government hopes the talks will centre on making the truce "meaningful."
"Whatever there is to be discussed in that context will be done so," the delegate said. "It will be put on the table and perhaps we can eventually reach some agreement."
He warned that it would be premature to expect resounding results from one round of talks. "In terms of gauging overall s uccess, these talks may not be terribly useful," he explained. "There aren’t likely to be great achievements to announce."
"At most, we will be able to return home and say we have agreed to discuss certain topics," he emphasised.
Shortly before departing for Geneva on Friday (Feb 17), the LTTE reiterated the importance of tackling the Karuna issue. Tiger political chief S.P. Thamilchelvan told journalists: "The Karuna affair was an internal matter which could have been solved through disciplinary measures had the Sri Lankan government turned in Karuna to the LTTE.
"Instead of doing so their intelligence unit has exploited the situation to commit many acts of violence against sections of the Tamil people. Turning Karuna to the LTTE is the proper thing to do."
Thamilchelvan also ruled out the need for amending the cease-fire agreement. He said that it had been drawn up with the assistance of the international community and that matters related to security, disarming paramilitaries and creating normalcy in Tamil areas were "adequately addressed" in the existing provisions.
He added that proper understanding and implementation of the agreement will "put an end to violence and create a conducive atmosphere for peace talks."
Asked how the government would address inevitable LTTE demands related to Karuna, the delegate said, "We have prepared ourselves for lots of issues." He did not elaborate but added, instead: "We are approaching the talks with an open mind and we would naturally like them to succeed."
The last batch of the government’s 14-member delegation will leave for Switzerland tomorrow (Feb 20). It includes surprise last-minute addition Deputy Minister Sripathy Sooriarachchi, who will be part of the advisory group. It wasn’t immediately clear what sort of advisory role he would play.
Asked about the strength of the government team, the delegate earlier quoted said, "We are well prepared."
"We heard from other teams who participated in previous peace negotiations and it appears that their preparatory work was not as intensive as ours," he continued. "Each member of our team has particular strengths and we aspire to work together as a team. Coordination and preparation has been going on for three to four weeks. From the moment we knew that talks were a possibility and even before the dates were fixed, we started preparing."
Meanwhile, Minister of Investment Promotion and Enterprise Development Rohitha Bogollagama is likely to be the official spokesman for the government. A large media contingent is expected at the event, from both the local and foreign media.
However, prospects for covering the proceedings are greatly limited. The only mode of getting to the talks venue is through buses provided by the Swiss Government. Furthermore, journalists will have just two media opportunities.
On Feb 22, they will be shepherded to the location in time for opening statements by the facilitators of the discussion – Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim and Swiss Political Director of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Urs Ziswiler. On Feb 23, journalists will again be escorted to the venue for a briefing immediately after the adjournment of the talks.
Asked whether the government was ready to counter the LTTE propaganda war that is likely to be launched, the delegate said: "Yes, we are. We’re hoping, at the same time, that it won’t be made into a circus. We have looked at every angle to these talks although we may still be surprised with a doosra. At the end of the day, we are not interested in scoring debating points but we want to make it work."
Meanwhile, the Universal Campaign for Protection of Democracy and Human Rights -– an organisation of Tamil and Sinhala anti-LTTE expatriates –- will hold a demonstration in at the UN headquarters in Geneva on the opening day of the talks. The protesters will call for the protection of human rights, authoritative sources said.
It was not immediately clear whether pro-LTTE groups have also arranged demonstrations to time with the talks.
Tamils tell LTTE: Stop the war
'Tamils for democracy' in London, and similar organizations in Geneva are planning rallies while peace negotiators from the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE were scheduled to get talks under way this week at Chateau de Bossey in Geneva. "Stop the war, resume peace'' was the slogan of the London demonstrators who will be staging their rally in Trafalgar Square on Sunday.
"The threat of war by the LTTE casts a shadow upon the lives of people'' said the organizers of the rally. This will be one of the key slogans of the proceedings in Trafalgar Square. Among other slogans will be "actual talks lasted only one year", "stop extortion", "stop conscription of child soldiers" etc.
There will be no "peace tours and travels" as in the last peace talks, said sources in Geneva where apparently the negotiation teams will not hobnob with the media as in the previous peace talks.
Press opportunities will be restricted to one session before the talks begin on Wednesday, and another after talks end Thursday.
Among those Tamil organizations involved in the Trafalgar Square demonstration are the Tamil Democratic Congress, Tamil Women's League, Sri Lanka Muslim Information Centre, Committee for Democracy for Justice in Sri Lanka.
Some peace NGOs have however turned up in Geneva with the intention of meeting the negotiating team and making the peace sessions a "peace carnival" sources said, but the talks will be closed door sessions and the plan is to restrict media access and access by interested parties to the peace teams to a few planned sessions.
All geared up for Geneva peace talks
By Namini Wijedasa
The Island
Publication Date : 2006-02-19
While agreeing that the Geneva talks must concentrate on strengthening the infirm cease-fire agreement in Sri Lanka, it is likely that both sides will focus next week on drafting an agenda for continuing negotiations, a member of the government delegation said recently.
"I don’t really see this discussion taking up substantive issues," he said, asking to remain anonymous. "We don’t even have a detailed agenda yet. Obviously, we will have to set out an agenda so that we have a clear understanding about what we are going to discuss.
"That will probably be the first step in this whole exercise," he elaborated. "We must identify what topics to address and how to address them."
In recent months, relations between the state and LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) have been acrimonious at best. Asked how the government team hoped to break the ice and get the talks off to a good start, another delegate jested: "We’re going to walk in smiling."
The government hopes the talks will centre on making the truce "meaningful."
"Whatever there is to be discussed in that context will be done so," the delegate said. "It will be put on the table and perhaps we can eventually reach some agreement."
He warned that it would be premature to expect resounding results from one round of talks. "In terms of gauging overall s uccess, these talks may not be terribly useful," he explained. "There aren’t likely to be great achievements to announce."
"At most, we will be able to return home and say we have agreed to discuss certain topics," he emphasised.
Shortly before departing for Geneva on Friday (Feb 17), the LTTE reiterated the importance of tackling the Karuna issue. Tiger political chief S.P. Thamilchelvan told journalists: "The Karuna affair was an internal matter which could have been solved through disciplinary measures had the Sri Lankan government turned in Karuna to the LTTE.
"Instead of doing so their intelligence unit has exploited the situation to commit many acts of violence against sections of the Tamil people. Turning Karuna to the LTTE is the proper thing to do."
Thamilchelvan also ruled out the need for amending the cease-fire agreement. He said that it had been drawn up with the assistance of the international community and that matters related to security, disarming paramilitaries and creating normalcy in Tamil areas were "adequately addressed" in the existing provisions.
He added that proper understanding and implementation of the agreement will "put an end to violence and create a conducive atmosphere for peace talks."
Asked how the government would address inevitable LTTE demands related to Karuna, the delegate said, "We have prepared ourselves for lots of issues." He did not elaborate but added, instead: "We are approaching the talks with an open mind and we would naturally like them to succeed."
The last batch of the government’s 14-member delegation will leave for Switzerland tomorrow (Feb 20). It includes surprise last-minute addition Deputy Minister Sripathy Sooriarachchi, who will be part of the advisory group. It wasn’t immediately clear what sort of advisory role he would play.
Asked about the strength of the government team, the delegate earlier quoted said, "We are well prepared."
"We heard from other teams who participated in previous peace negotiations and it appears that their preparatory work was not as intensive as ours," he continued. "Each member of our team has particular strengths and we aspire to work together as a team. Coordination and preparation has been going on for three to four weeks. From the moment we knew that talks were a possibility and even before the dates were fixed, we started preparing."
Meanwhile, Minister of Investment Promotion and Enterprise Development Rohitha Bogollagama is likely to be the official spokesman for the government. A large media contingent is expected at the event, from both the local and foreign media.
However, prospects for covering the proceedings are greatly limited. The only mode of getting to the talks venue is through buses provided by the Swiss Government. Furthermore, journalists will have just two media opportunities.
On Feb 22, they will be shepherded to the location in time for opening statements by the facilitators of the discussion – Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim and Swiss Political Director of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Urs Ziswiler. On Feb 23, journalists will again be escorted to the venue for a briefing immediately after the adjournment of the talks.
Asked whether the government was ready to counter the LTTE propaganda war that is likely to be launched, the delegate said: "Yes, we are. We’re hoping, at the same time, that it won’t be made into a circus. We have looked at every angle to these talks although we may still be surprised with a doosra. At the end of the day, we are not interested in scoring debating points but we want to make it work."
Meanwhile, the Universal Campaign for Protection of Democracy and Human Rights -– an organisation of Tamil and Sinhala anti-LTTE expatriates –- will hold a demonstration in at the UN headquarters in Geneva on the opening day of the talks. The protesters will call for the protection of human rights, authoritative sources said.
It was not immediately clear whether pro-LTTE groups have also arranged demonstrations to time with the talks.
Tamils tell LTTE: Stop the war
'Tamils for democracy' in London, and similar organizations in Geneva are planning rallies while peace negotiators from the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE were scheduled to get talks under way this week at Chateau de Bossey in Geneva. "Stop the war, resume peace'' was the slogan of the London demonstrators who will be staging their rally in Trafalgar Square on Sunday.
"The threat of war by the LTTE casts a shadow upon the lives of people'' said the organizers of the rally. This will be one of the key slogans of the proceedings in Trafalgar Square. Among other slogans will be "actual talks lasted only one year", "stop extortion", "stop conscription of child soldiers" etc.
There will be no "peace tours and travels" as in the last peace talks, said sources in Geneva where apparently the negotiation teams will not hobnob with the media as in the previous peace talks.
Press opportunities will be restricted to one session before the talks begin on Wednesday, and another after talks end Thursday.
Among those Tamil organizations involved in the Trafalgar Square demonstration are the Tamil Democratic Congress, Tamil Women's League, Sri Lanka Muslim Information Centre, Committee for Democracy for Justice in Sri Lanka.
Some peace NGOs have however turned up in Geneva with the intention of meeting the negotiating team and making the peace sessions a "peace carnival" sources said, but the talks will be closed door sessions and the plan is to restrict media access and access by interested parties to the peace teams to a few planned sessions.