Sri Lankan Marxists agree to restart peace talks with rebels

0 Comments | Asian Political News, August 9, 2004

COLOMBO, Aug. 5 Kyodo

The Marxist constituent of Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga's coalition government on Thursday agreed to begin peace negotiations with the Tamil Tigers, paving the way for renewed talks.

The change of stance comes a day after Kumaratunga, striving to restart direct negotiations stalled since April last year, announced that she was quitting the leadership of the United People's Freedom Alliance, a coalition between her People's Alliance and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna had previously resisted the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam demand for an interim self-governing authority for the northeast as the price for returning to the negotiating table. Kumaratunga had demonstrated greater flexibility on the demand that she had herself previously fiercely condemned.

''The first day that the talks begin on the basis of the ISGA will be the last day when the JVP will be in the government,'' Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa recently said.

Kumaratunga cited ''pressure of work'' for quitting the UPFA leadership, which diplomats and analysts widely believe was a tactical move to distance herself from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leadership.

Talking to reporters at a regular briefing following the weekly cabinet meeting, Lands Minister Anura Dissanayake, a senior JVP minister, said they were willing to help Kumaratunga to revive the peace process.

''Every government has adapted to changing needs. We can have talks for an interim administration linked to a final solution,'' he said. ''The LTTE too must be flexible.''

The government Web-site run by the president's office said the government ''is willing to discuss with the LTTE its proposal for an interim administration alongside the talks to reach a final solution acceptable to all communities.''

Norway, which brokered the February 2002 cease-fire agreement, last week warned that it had only halted the fighting but had not ensured peace.

''The cease-fire has only frozen the war and that is beginning to melt at the edges,'' said Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen, who was in Sri Lanka last week in a bid to revive the peace process.

Kumaratunga said that her Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the dominant partner of the People's Alliance, will nominate a successor for the UPFA leadership. Her brother Anura, a Cabinet minister, said he will take the job ''if that's what the party wants.''

The UPFA runs a minority government right now but is hopeful of attracting a segment of the opposition to support the government later this month.