Editorial
Worsening conditions in Sri Lanka
The two sides must go back to negotiations
Conditions in Sri Lanka have in recent days taken a nosedive. With 52 guerrillas and 38 government soldiers dead in northern Jaffna, it is easy to understand how swiftly the country may be sliding back to full-scale hostilities between the government and the Tamil Tigers. The latest incident of violence has been a direct result of Colombo's bid to seize territory under the control of the LTTE and only underlines the ferocity and desperation with which the two sides are now locked in a battle of wills. But anyone who has some understanding of the long history of the conflict, which began in 1972, will also be aware of the tortuous and eventually fruitless negotiations undertaken to bring about peace in the country.
The peace process initiated a few years ago, with the Norwegian government trying to broker a deal, between the government and the guerrillas, at one point looked rather promising. Unfortunately, the election of Mahinda Rajapakse to the presidency turned things back to a point where the earlier encouraging signs of peace taking over simply fell flat. It was clear that hardliners in Colombo, especially among the military, were not happy with the proposed autonomy for the Tamils in the north and east of the country. The advances that had been made by the administration of Ranil Wickremesinghe, never accepted by Rajapakse or his predecessor Chandrika Kumaratunga, thus came to nought. For their part, the Tamils under the elusive Velupillai Prabhakaran have remained unwilling to tone down their demands, aside from dropping, at least for now, the call for an independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka. The consequences are only too obvious: matters have simply reached a point of no return.
And yet Sri Lankans must break out of the impasse. The armed conflict, having solved nothing, does not look about to come to an end any time soon. For both the government and the Tamils, the time is once more here to sit down to negotiations. The Norwegian government, disappointed though it is, could once more take up the not too cheering job of convincing the two warring sides to talk things over in Europe.
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