THAILAND: SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT AND TAMIL TIGERS LTTE MOVE INTO THIRD DAY OF TALKS TO FIND WAYS TO END ONE OF WORLD'S LONGEST-RUNNING CIVIL WARS

Record ID: 552079

  • Title: THAILAND: SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT AND TAMIL TIGERS LTTE MOVE INTO THIRD DAY OF TALKS TO FIND WAYS TO END ONE OF WORLD'S LONGEST-RUNNING CIVIL WARS
  • Date: 17th September 2002
  • Summary: SATTAHIP, THAILAND (SEPTEMBER 17, 2002) (REUTERS) GV LARGE SIGN EXTERIOR OF SATTAHIP NAVAL BASE MV SOLDIERS (WEARING WHITE GLOVES) OUTSIDE THE NAVAL BASE VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS DIRECTING TRAFFIC AND CHECKING VEHICLES (3 SHOTS) SV SOLDIER AS CU FACE OF OTHER SOLDIER IN F/G WIDE OF NAVAL SHIPS IN HARBOUR AS SMALL BOAT IN F/G; SLV MILITARY SHIP (2 SHOTS) LV NAVAL COMMANDER'S RESIDENCE (WHERE TALKS ARE UNDERWAY) (INTERIOR SHOTS) VARIOUS OF LTTE REPRESENTATIVE ANTON BALASINGHAM TALKING WITH CHIEF GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATOR G.L. PEIRIS (4 SHOTS) GVs GROUP AT CONFERENCE TABLE (2 SHOTS) MORE OF GROUP SEATED (3 SHOTS) SV NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE VIDAR HELGESEN, SPEAKING SV GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE, MILINDA MORAGODA SPEAKING (EXTERIOR NIGHT SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATOR, G.L. PEIRIS, SAYING: "Roughly once a month while we get the preparatory work done and later on we may have to meet more often. (reporter: so when will you next meet?) At the end of October, in Thailand." MV G.L. PEIRIS TALKING WITH JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) G.L. PEIRIS, SAYING: "We need a program to determine our own priorities as far as economic development is concerned and we expect the donor community to participate in that program. I would say that there's been a sharp focus on that aspect of the matter in the discussions we've held over the last couple of days."
  • Embargoed: 2nd October 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SATTAHIP, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4PNSVWCTS0F0YKAO9AC4ADM0N
  • Story Text: Sri Lanka's top negotiator has said he has "every expectation of peace" with Tamil rebels and announced fresh rounds of talks aimed at ending one of the world's longest-running civil wars.
    The rebels echoed the sentiments, but ruled out disarmament until a permanent peace is agreed.
    The Sri Lankan government and the LTTE moved into the third day of talks on Wednesday (September 18) at a naval base at Sattahip, 260 km (160 miles) southeast of Bangkok to find ways to end 19 years of fighting that has killed 64,000 people and smothered the island's economy.
    Government negotiator G.L. Peiris told reporters on Tuesday (September 17) the two sides were ready to ask the international aid community for help to rebuild the devastated economy and get the battle-scarred nation back on its feet.
    He said the next round of talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would be held in Thailand in late October with two further rounds planned in the following months.
    A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire has held since February and this week's talks are the first direct negotiations in seven years.
    Peiris said the talks over the past two days with the Tigers had focused on identifying urgent humanitarian needs and the results had been positive.
    "We need a program to determine our own priorities as far as economic development is concerned and we expect the donor community to participate in that program. I would say that there's been a sharp focus on that aspect of the matter in the discussions we've held over the last couple of days," he said.
    Peiris also echoed an earlier statement by Norwegian mediators, which said the talks had helped build trust between the two sides, especially as all previous talks had ended in renewed violence.
    But contentious issues, such as Tiger demands for a separate state, have been left until later rounds.
    The upbeat mood was captured back in Sri Lanka by investors, who have pushed up the Colombo stock market nearly three percent in two days to its highest level in five years.
    There was no immediate reaction from politicians in Colombo who have accused the government of wanting to give away too much to the separatist Tamil rebels in return for an end to the war that has displaced a million people.
    Atrocities blamed on the LTTE prompted the United States and Britain to outlaw the organisation, headed by its elusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, suppressing its fund-raising efforts overseas, but the Sri Lankan government lifted its own ban on the group before the peace talks began.
    The LTTE have been fighting since 1983 for a Tamil state in the north and east for minority Tamils, who they say are discriminated against by the island's Sinhalese majority.
    Peiris also said the talks had allowed him to develop a rapport with Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator of the LTTE delegation, who he also met informally between negotiating sessions.
    Peiris, Balasingham and the Norweigian deputy foreign minister held a news conference on Wednesday.
    Balasingham reitterated that there could be no question of disarmament until a permanent settlement was reached.
    "The question of decommissioning, the question of disarming, will not arise until we reach the permanent settlement that will satisfy the aspirations of the Tamil people. And I think that is premature on your part to raise the issue of disarmament at this stage," said Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator for the Tamil Tigers.
    Balasingham said the Tigers were pushing for "substantial autonomy" for the island's minority Tamils within a "homeland"
    area and not a separate state.
    "If our demand for regional autonomy and self-government is rejected, and the conditions of oppression continue, and that as a last resort our people have no option other than to fight for political independence and statehood, that will be the last resort under the principle of self-determination. So everything, you must see, understand the current literature, current UN literature on self-determination. We operate through those principles. So using or saying that LTTE is fighting for an independent state is, has no relevance because we operate with different categories and concepts,"
    Balasingham said.
    Peiris said the rebels' aspirations could be met within a united country.
    Both sides have agreed to work towards establishing an interim administration in the north and east of the country.
    "We have prepared the ground for it. We have taken the preliminary steps that are necessary to create the conditions which are conducive to that particular initiative. So we have addressed what we have to do at every point along the way.
    There is certainly something to be done in the future, not immediately. I don't think it would be reasonable to try to attempt it on the very first occasion that the two parties met directly for talks. But we have addressed the preliminary issues relating to that and we have also agreed among ourselves how we should take that forward on the next occasion," said Peiris.
    Balasingham said Tamil Tigers must be given a pivotal role in the interim adminstration.
    "There is nothing wrong with setting up of an administrative structure. The LTTE must be given the role, the pivotal role to play and that we have been fighting for the last 20 years and we were involved in a very violent and brutal war and must be given, create an opportunity for our fighters, our cadres to run the administration in our homeland. What is wrong with that?" said Balasingham.
    The Norwegian government, which brokered a ceasefire and is overseeing the talks, said in a statement the two sides had agreed to meet again from October 31 to November 3, from December 2 to 5 and from January 6 to 9.
    "The parties have now started taking practical steps for peace-building on the ground, focusing on the immediate humanitarian needs, setting clear priorities for humanitarian action, and even agreed on joint task force to act rapidly.
    but they can't act rapidly unless the donors act rapidly. Now the world community needs to take practical steps to support the parties in their determination to bring peace to Sri Lanka," said Norweigian deputy foreign minister Vidar Helgesen.
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