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Journalist security cited as peace talks resume
[ CPJ ] [ 02:07 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
As you resume negotiations in Geneva today to establish a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka, we call your attention to the urgent issue of journalist security. The free flow of information, a vital ingredient in establishing the peace, is jeopardized by ongoing violence against the press. In 2005, two Tamil journalists were murdered and others were threatened. Independent journalists were not only caught in the fighting between government and Tamil forces, but also in the conflict between Tamil factions. In April, Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram was seized outside a police station in the capital, Colombo, and shot dead. Sivaram was a founding member and contributor to the TamilNet news Web site and a military and political columnist for the English-language Daily Mirror. Investigators made one arrest, but the case has not come to trial. In addition to these attacks, CPJ has learned of instances in which authorities in Colombo have cordoned off areas and targeted journalists for questioning. We urge you to halt all such sweeps, which create a chilling and intimidating atmosphere for journalists.
United States Welcomes Steps Toward Peace in Sri Lanka
[ U.S. Department of State ] [ 02:11 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
The United States lauded recent indications of a possible move towards a peaceful future in Sri Lanka.In a statement released February 22, the U.S. Department of State welcomed the February 22-23 talks in Geneva between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and a reduction of violence in recent weeks.The United States also thanked Norway for its “invaluable assistance” in facilitating the peace talks.Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils have been in armed conflict with the majority Sinhalese government in Colombo since the 1970s, seeking to establish an autonomous region in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE (also known as the "Tamil Tigers") has been the leading force in that conflict since the 1980s.
Singapore mourns respected ex-foreign minister
[ Bangkok Post ] [ 02:54 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Flags flew at half-staff in Singapore on Thursday as the nation mourned the death of Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, the country's pioneering foreign minister. He died of heart failure at his home on Wednesday three days short of his 91st birthday. He had been in poor health for several years. Rajaratnam "helped to create modern Singapore, and to define who we are and what we stand for as a nation," said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a condolence letter. "He played vital roles at every stage of our nation building, from the 1950s until the 1980s." The body will lie in state at parliament on Friday for members of the public to pay their respects. A state funeral will be held on Saturday. Born in Sri Lanka on February 25, 1915, he grew up in Malaysia.
Sri Lankan peace talks struggle to create trust
[ Reuters ] [ 02:59 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lankan officials and Tamil Tiger rebels struggled on Thursday to restore some trust as talks to prevent a return to open war went into a final day. A first round of discussions on Wednesday saw the two sides, having their first contact since 2003, restate well-known positions with little sign of compromise, diplomats said. The island's Tamil-dominated north and east has largely been calm since Jan. 25 when the two sides agreed to meet, but if the Geneva talks collapse, many fear the end of a 2002 truce and a return to a civil war which has killed more than 64,000 people. Diplomats say the talks, at a chateau outside Geneva, would be a success if the two simply agreed to meet again, and perhaps outlined some confidence-building measures.
Sri Lankan Govt, Rebels Say Truce Is Basis for Peace
[ Bloomberg ] [ 03:03 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels said the cease-fire accord they signed in 2002 remains the basis for beginning talks on a peace settlement to end the country's two-decade civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government made the comments at the start yesterday of two days of talks in Geneva aimed at boosting the truce agreement after an upsurge in violence in the north and east of the country since December. The cease-fire is being undermined by a ``subversive war'' carried out by paramilitary groups backed by the army, the LTTE said, according to TamilNet. The truce accord, while violating the constitution, remains the ``first step'' to a negotiated peace settlement, the government said.
Swiss talks expose gulf in Sri Lanka's troubled peace bid
[ AFP ] [ 03:08 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's warring parties agreed to meet in Switzerland to save their truce but the Alpine climate has failed to cool passions, according to officials and diplomats. The Colombo government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were due to enter the second and final day of their negotiations at this peaceful Swiss village Thursday, but a breakthrough was unlikely, diplomats said. The talks opened emotive political issues of Sri Lanka's sovereignty and national security, with the new Sri Lankan government raising the legality of the ceasefire arranged by peace broker Norway four years ago. "There is no development to report," a Sri Lankan government official said after their chief spokesman Rohitha Bogollagama abruptly cancelled a press briefing scheduled after the first day's talks on Wednesday evening.
S.Lanka Tigers say shelled on last day of talks
[ Reuters ] [ 12:33 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Talks between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels aimed at averting a new civil war entered their final day on Thursday, with the rebels accusing the army of firing artillery at them. The army denied shelling rebel lines. "It is a deliberate campaign against the army," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "We are professional. We would not fire shells at a sensitive time like this. We have not fired artillery or mortars at them for four years now." The talks in Switzerland are seen key to salvaging a battered 2002 truce.
'No headway' in Sri Lanka talks
[ BBC ] [ 12:37 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lankan officials and Tamil rebels are holding a second day of talks aimed at rescuing a fragile ceasefire, with no indications of any breakthrough. Diplomats attending the meeting in Geneva said there was little sign of compromise, with both sides accusing each other of violating the 2002 truce. The talks follow a recent upsurge in violence in Sri Lanka's north and east which has cost at least 120 lives. Foreign donors have urged both sides to be "open and flexible" in discussions. The BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan in Geneva says no breakthrough is expected and the talks will be judged a success if the government and the rebels agree to meet again.
Sri Lanka warring parties under pressure on final day of talks
Thu Feb 23, 4:27 AM ET
CELIGNY, Switzerland (AFP) - Talks on saving Sri Lanka's troubled truce got underway here on the second and final day amid foreign pressure on the warring sides to be flexible, diplomatic sources said
Negotiators from the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sat down again after the two sides made strong opening statements a day earlier sticking to their guns, diplomats said on Thursday.
The final sessions got underway after Sri Lanka's key international financial backers -- the United States, Japan, the European Union and Norway -- issued a statement asking the two sides to be more accommodating.
"We urge parties to approach the opportunity with an open and flexible attitude," said the quartet in a statement issued in Washington.
The four helped raise 4.5 billion dollars in foreign aid to rebuild Sri Lanka in June 2003.
Much of the assistance is linked to progress in the peace process which, despite a February 2002 ceasefire, remained on hold from April 2003 until the talks here kicked off on Wednesday.
Both sides ended months of wrangling over the venue in January and gave a green light for the meeting to go ahead in neutral Switzerland.
"We also welcome the decreased violence since the January 25 announcement of the talks as a sign that the parties take seriously and fully respect their commitments under the ceasefire agreement," the donors said.
Sri Lanka wants to amend the ceasefire after saying that it was against the country's constitution while the guerrillas insist that they will only consider better implementation of what has already been agreed.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's three-decades-old ethnic conflict, and four previous peace attempts have ended in failure.
Diplomats said they believed that the most they could achieve in the current talks would be an agreement to hold further meetings, calling getting both sides to the table "a big breakthrough" in itself.
“Nothing in CFA that directly addresses the under-age recruitment issue.” - S.P Tamilselvan in Geneva
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 12:40 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
S. P Tamilselvan spoke in the afternoon of the first day of talks in Geneva between LTTE and GoSL on 22 February 2006. Tamilselvan said that in relation to the accusations of under-age youths joining LTTE there is nothing in CFA that directly addresses this issue. He, however, added that given the serious child rights violations in NorthEast over the last two decades there is a need to speak about it at these talks about the implementation of CFA. Even after four years of CFA there is an absence of normalcy in people’s life following the two decades of war. Children have lost their parents, were killed and maimed in thousands, and their schools and places of worship were destroyed by bombing.
Swiss talks expose gulf in Sri Lanka conflict, foreign pressure mounts
[ AFP ] [ 12:48 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Talks between Sri Lanka's warring parties entered a second and final day as foreign pressure mounted on both sides to show flexibility and save the island's troubled peace process. Although negotiators from the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sat down at the table, their uncompromising stands were putting the entire ice-breaking initiative at risk, diplomats said. The final round got underway after Sri Lanka's key international financial backers -- the US, Japan, the European Union and Norway -- asked the two sides to be more accommodating.
Sri Lankan government, rebels, try for second day to salvage cease-fire
By ARTHUR MAX
AP
GENEVA (AP) - Sri Lankan government negotiators and Tamil Tiger rebels, exchanging accusations of bad faith, sought Thursday to salvage their tattered cease-fire and prevent renewed war.
The two sides clashed at their opening meeting on Wednesday on whether to amend their truce agreement, signed exactly four years earlier.
The conference, held at a secluded chateau outside Geneva, was due to end later Thursday. It is the first high-level contact since peace talks broke down nearly three years ago.
Nearly 3,500 truce violations have been recorded since 2002, but a spike in violence starting last December, which claimed some 150 lives, raised fears that the Indian Ocean island was again on the brink of war.
The violence tapered off after the two sides agreed a month ago to hold the Geneva talks, but incidents continued.
On Thursday, an army spokesman in Colombo accused rebel gunmen of killing a Muslim man in eastern Sri Lanka, but the rebels denied involvement in Wednesday's shooting. The Tigers have a long history of hostility toward the Muslims, Sri Lanka's second largest minority after the Tamils.
At the talks Wednesday, the government called for revisions of the truce accord, saying the rebels had "undermined the spirit of the cease-fire and threatened its termination."
The rebels, however, called for "consolidating" the agreement unchanged.
Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim asked both sides to rebuild trust.
"There is very little confidence at the start between the two sides," said the Norwegian minister. "Confidence can only increase, but it starts at a low level," he said before asking the delegation leaders to shake hands for the news cameras.
Solheim hoped the negotiators would agree to meet again "to move on to other aspects of the conflict."
Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator for the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, accused the government of fighting "an ugly form of a shadow or subversive war" by backing a breakaway rebel group responsible for the deaths and abductions of hundreds of civilians.
Nimal Siripala de Silva, the health minister and chief government delegate, blamed the LTTE for abducting and recruiting thousands of children into its ranks, for obstructing free elections and for murder, including the assassination last August of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at his home in the capital, Colombo.
De Silva said the buildup of LTTE forces in the last four years underscored "serious deficiencies" in the cease-fire agreement. "We propose to rectify certain grave anomalies arising from the agreement," he said.
He did not say what changes the government might propose.
Balasingham rejected the idea of reopening the document.
"The cease-fire agreement is a well crafted, valid instrument of peace," he said.
Peace talks broke down in 2003 after six rounds of negotiation that was converging on the idea of a federation - a significant withdrawal from the LTTE's original demand for full independence in the north and east where the minority Tamils are concentrated.
Tamil rebels have been fighting since 1983, complaining of systematic discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. The war killed 65,000 people before the cease-fire was signed in 2002.
[ CPJ ] [ 02:07 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
As you resume negotiations in Geneva today to establish a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka, we call your attention to the urgent issue of journalist security. The free flow of information, a vital ingredient in establishing the peace, is jeopardized by ongoing violence against the press. In 2005, two Tamil journalists were murdered and others were threatened. Independent journalists were not only caught in the fighting between government and Tamil forces, but also in the conflict between Tamil factions. In April, Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram was seized outside a police station in the capital, Colombo, and shot dead. Sivaram was a founding member and contributor to the TamilNet news Web site and a military and political columnist for the English-language Daily Mirror. Investigators made one arrest, but the case has not come to trial. In addition to these attacks, CPJ has learned of instances in which authorities in Colombo have cordoned off areas and targeted journalists for questioning. We urge you to halt all such sweeps, which create a chilling and intimidating atmosphere for journalists.
United States Welcomes Steps Toward Peace in Sri Lanka
[ U.S. Department of State ] [ 02:11 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
The United States lauded recent indications of a possible move towards a peaceful future in Sri Lanka.In a statement released February 22, the U.S. Department of State welcomed the February 22-23 talks in Geneva between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and a reduction of violence in recent weeks.The United States also thanked Norway for its “invaluable assistance” in facilitating the peace talks.Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils have been in armed conflict with the majority Sinhalese government in Colombo since the 1970s, seeking to establish an autonomous region in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE (also known as the "Tamil Tigers") has been the leading force in that conflict since the 1980s.
Singapore mourns respected ex-foreign minister
[ Bangkok Post ] [ 02:54 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Flags flew at half-staff in Singapore on Thursday as the nation mourned the death of Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, the country's pioneering foreign minister. He died of heart failure at his home on Wednesday three days short of his 91st birthday. He had been in poor health for several years. Rajaratnam "helped to create modern Singapore, and to define who we are and what we stand for as a nation," said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a condolence letter. "He played vital roles at every stage of our nation building, from the 1950s until the 1980s." The body will lie in state at parliament on Friday for members of the public to pay their respects. A state funeral will be held on Saturday. Born in Sri Lanka on February 25, 1915, he grew up in Malaysia.
Sri Lankan peace talks struggle to create trust
[ Reuters ] [ 02:59 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lankan officials and Tamil Tiger rebels struggled on Thursday to restore some trust as talks to prevent a return to open war went into a final day. A first round of discussions on Wednesday saw the two sides, having their first contact since 2003, restate well-known positions with little sign of compromise, diplomats said. The island's Tamil-dominated north and east has largely been calm since Jan. 25 when the two sides agreed to meet, but if the Geneva talks collapse, many fear the end of a 2002 truce and a return to a civil war which has killed more than 64,000 people. Diplomats say the talks, at a chateau outside Geneva, would be a success if the two simply agreed to meet again, and perhaps outlined some confidence-building measures.
Sri Lankan Govt, Rebels Say Truce Is Basis for Peace
[ Bloomberg ] [ 03:03 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels said the cease-fire accord they signed in 2002 remains the basis for beginning talks on a peace settlement to end the country's two-decade civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government made the comments at the start yesterday of two days of talks in Geneva aimed at boosting the truce agreement after an upsurge in violence in the north and east of the country since December. The cease-fire is being undermined by a ``subversive war'' carried out by paramilitary groups backed by the army, the LTTE said, according to TamilNet. The truce accord, while violating the constitution, remains the ``first step'' to a negotiated peace settlement, the government said.
Swiss talks expose gulf in Sri Lanka's troubled peace bid
[ AFP ] [ 03:08 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's warring parties agreed to meet in Switzerland to save their truce but the Alpine climate has failed to cool passions, according to officials and diplomats. The Colombo government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were due to enter the second and final day of their negotiations at this peaceful Swiss village Thursday, but a breakthrough was unlikely, diplomats said. The talks opened emotive political issues of Sri Lanka's sovereignty and national security, with the new Sri Lankan government raising the legality of the ceasefire arranged by peace broker Norway four years ago. "There is no development to report," a Sri Lankan government official said after their chief spokesman Rohitha Bogollagama abruptly cancelled a press briefing scheduled after the first day's talks on Wednesday evening.
S.Lanka Tigers say shelled on last day of talks
[ Reuters ] [ 12:33 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Talks between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels aimed at averting a new civil war entered their final day on Thursday, with the rebels accusing the army of firing artillery at them. The army denied shelling rebel lines. "It is a deliberate campaign against the army," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "We are professional. We would not fire shells at a sensitive time like this. We have not fired artillery or mortars at them for four years now." The talks in Switzerland are seen key to salvaging a battered 2002 truce.
'No headway' in Sri Lanka talks
[ BBC ] [ 12:37 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Sri Lankan officials and Tamil rebels are holding a second day of talks aimed at rescuing a fragile ceasefire, with no indications of any breakthrough. Diplomats attending the meeting in Geneva said there was little sign of compromise, with both sides accusing each other of violating the 2002 truce. The talks follow a recent upsurge in violence in Sri Lanka's north and east which has cost at least 120 lives. Foreign donors have urged both sides to be "open and flexible" in discussions. The BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan in Geneva says no breakthrough is expected and the talks will be judged a success if the government and the rebels agree to meet again.
Sri Lanka warring parties under pressure on final day of talks
Thu Feb 23, 4:27 AM ET
CELIGNY, Switzerland (AFP) - Talks on saving Sri Lanka's troubled truce got underway here on the second and final day amid foreign pressure on the warring sides to be flexible, diplomatic sources said
Negotiators from the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sat down again after the two sides made strong opening statements a day earlier sticking to their guns, diplomats said on Thursday.
The final sessions got underway after Sri Lanka's key international financial backers -- the United States, Japan, the European Union and Norway -- issued a statement asking the two sides to be more accommodating.
"We urge parties to approach the opportunity with an open and flexible attitude," said the quartet in a statement issued in Washington.
The four helped raise 4.5 billion dollars in foreign aid to rebuild Sri Lanka in June 2003.
Much of the assistance is linked to progress in the peace process which, despite a February 2002 ceasefire, remained on hold from April 2003 until the talks here kicked off on Wednesday.
Both sides ended months of wrangling over the venue in January and gave a green light for the meeting to go ahead in neutral Switzerland.
"We also welcome the decreased violence since the January 25 announcement of the talks as a sign that the parties take seriously and fully respect their commitments under the ceasefire agreement," the donors said.
Sri Lanka wants to amend the ceasefire after saying that it was against the country's constitution while the guerrillas insist that they will only consider better implementation of what has already been agreed.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's three-decades-old ethnic conflict, and four previous peace attempts have ended in failure.
Diplomats said they believed that the most they could achieve in the current talks would be an agreement to hold further meetings, calling getting both sides to the table "a big breakthrough" in itself.
“Nothing in CFA that directly addresses the under-age recruitment issue.” - S.P Tamilselvan in Geneva
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 12:40 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
S. P Tamilselvan spoke in the afternoon of the first day of talks in Geneva between LTTE and GoSL on 22 February 2006. Tamilselvan said that in relation to the accusations of under-age youths joining LTTE there is nothing in CFA that directly addresses this issue. He, however, added that given the serious child rights violations in NorthEast over the last two decades there is a need to speak about it at these talks about the implementation of CFA. Even after four years of CFA there is an absence of normalcy in people’s life following the two decades of war. Children have lost their parents, were killed and maimed in thousands, and their schools and places of worship were destroyed by bombing.
Swiss talks expose gulf in Sri Lanka conflict, foreign pressure mounts
[ AFP ] [ 12:48 GMT, Feb. 23, 2006 ]
Talks between Sri Lanka's warring parties entered a second and final day as foreign pressure mounted on both sides to show flexibility and save the island's troubled peace process. Although negotiators from the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sat down at the table, their uncompromising stands were putting the entire ice-breaking initiative at risk, diplomats said. The final round got underway after Sri Lanka's key international financial backers -- the US, Japan, the European Union and Norway -- asked the two sides to be more accommodating.
Sri Lankan government, rebels, try for second day to salvage cease-fire
By ARTHUR MAX
AP
GENEVA (AP) - Sri Lankan government negotiators and Tamil Tiger rebels, exchanging accusations of bad faith, sought Thursday to salvage their tattered cease-fire and prevent renewed war.
The two sides clashed at their opening meeting on Wednesday on whether to amend their truce agreement, signed exactly four years earlier.
The conference, held at a secluded chateau outside Geneva, was due to end later Thursday. It is the first high-level contact since peace talks broke down nearly three years ago.
Nearly 3,500 truce violations have been recorded since 2002, but a spike in violence starting last December, which claimed some 150 lives, raised fears that the Indian Ocean island was again on the brink of war.
The violence tapered off after the two sides agreed a month ago to hold the Geneva talks, but incidents continued.
On Thursday, an army spokesman in Colombo accused rebel gunmen of killing a Muslim man in eastern Sri Lanka, but the rebels denied involvement in Wednesday's shooting. The Tigers have a long history of hostility toward the Muslims, Sri Lanka's second largest minority after the Tamils.
At the talks Wednesday, the government called for revisions of the truce accord, saying the rebels had "undermined the spirit of the cease-fire and threatened its termination."
The rebels, however, called for "consolidating" the agreement unchanged.
Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim asked both sides to rebuild trust.
"There is very little confidence at the start between the two sides," said the Norwegian minister. "Confidence can only increase, but it starts at a low level," he said before asking the delegation leaders to shake hands for the news cameras.
Solheim hoped the negotiators would agree to meet again "to move on to other aspects of the conflict."
Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator for the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, accused the government of fighting "an ugly form of a shadow or subversive war" by backing a breakaway rebel group responsible for the deaths and abductions of hundreds of civilians.
Nimal Siripala de Silva, the health minister and chief government delegate, blamed the LTTE for abducting and recruiting thousands of children into its ranks, for obstructing free elections and for murder, including the assassination last August of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at his home in the capital, Colombo.
De Silva said the buildup of LTTE forces in the last four years underscored "serious deficiencies" in the cease-fire agreement. "We propose to rectify certain grave anomalies arising from the agreement," he said.
He did not say what changes the government might propose.
Balasingham rejected the idea of reopening the document.
"The cease-fire agreement is a well crafted, valid instrument of peace," he said.
Peace talks broke down in 2003 after six rounds of negotiation that was converging on the idea of a federation - a significant withdrawal from the LTTE's original demand for full independence in the north and east where the minority Tamils are concentrated.
Tamil rebels have been fighting since 1983, complaining of systematic discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. The war killed 65,000 people before the cease-fire was signed in 2002.