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"Sri Lankan Peace Process and cease-fire are linked to post-tsunami management"

"Post tsunami management cannot be isolated from the Sri Lankan Peace Process and the cease-fire agreement, for any disaster management needs a peaceful environment and in the Sri Lankan context, it is absolutely essential that the parties endeavor to maintain the status quo in these two matters” said Ms.Carin Jamtin, Minister for Development, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a meeting with the LTTE Political delegation led by Mr.S.P.Tamilselvan today 15 March 2005 at the Ministry complex.

Stressing the importance of a Joint Mechanism for post-tsunami management, the Minister requested Mr.Tamilselvan to brief her on the status of the cease-fire, peace process and the proposed Joint Mechanism for post-tsunami management. Responding to the Minister, the Head of the Political Division had this to say:

“The cease-fire and the peace process were at a very fragile state when the tsunami struck. What the cease fire provided to the Tamil people was only silencing of the guns and the rest of the peace dividends were elusive throughout the period of three years of cease fire. Alleviation of hardships caused by two decades of war and restoring ‘normalcy’ in the lives of the people, the two basic peace dividends remain elusive yet. Though the cease fire agreement (CFA) contains within it, specific clauses relating to unfettered resettlement of the displaced and the prohibition of any armed groups in the NorthEast, these were not adhered to and the displaced people continue to languish in refugee camps, having been denied access to their habitats under the cover of Sri Lankan Military’s High Security Zone (HSZ) constraint. Acts of violence by armed groups, aided and abetted by the Military Intelligence division, nullifies the ‘peace’ assured in the CFA. Civilian demonstrations against these violations are indicators to the state of hopelessness and frustration that has set in.

It is at a stage like this, when the people in the NorthEast coast, through their resilience, were gathering a little, that tsunami struck them making the impact distinctly asymmetrical to the impact elsewhere. Immediate response to the disaster in the NorthEast coast was to formulate an ‘inclusive’ mechanism with the Government Agent, INGO’s, local NGO’s, TRO and the Civilian Based Organisations (CBOs) that effectively carried out rescue and relief operations at the District level. Since reconstruction and resettlement efforts need outside inputs, the concept of the District Mechanism was expanded to cover the region and proposals for the Joint Mechanism were forwarded to the Government through the Norwegian facilitators. The Government’s response was to cut down on the proposals and suggesting counter - proposals. Since exchanging of proposals was found to be an endless exercise, we suggested that Norway formulate the text and make it agreeable to both the parties. Though Norway’s formulation was not fully meeting the requirements, we agreed on it, exercising maximum flexibility in view of the urgency demanded by the situation.

This position of ours was clarified to the Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr.Jan Peterson and the Special Peace Envoy Mr.Erik Solheim in our recent meeting in Oslo. We are now waiting for the Government to show the green light to the draft proposals enabling us to commence work on the Joint Mechanism and the establishment of structures to take forward the reconstruction plans including setting up of the fund under the custodianship of the World Bank”.

Earlier in the day, the delegation met with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and discussed the post- tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Sida directorate reiterated that prioritizing tsunami disaster management should not be at the cost of neglecting the war affected population. Participating in the discussion was Sida Assistant Director General, Asia Department Jan Bjerninger, Country Manager-Asia Department Samuel Egero, Katarina Zinn from the Division for Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict Management, Ola Hallgren, Advisor, Director General’s office.

15 March 2005

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