Peace Broker Fears Sri Lanka Violence May Deepen
Reuters
May 26, 2006
By Simon Gardner
COLOMBO, May 26 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka risks sliding deeper into violence that some fear could reignite civil war unless Tamil rebels stop killing and the government reins in armed groups opposed to them, Norway's peace broker warned on Friday.
Erik Solheim, who brokered a four-year-old ceasefire, appealed to both sides to take a hard look at how they can defuse a "very, very serious" situation. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) say it could escalate into a high-intensity war.
More than 270 soldiers, police, civilians and rebels have been killed in a rash of attacks from suicide bombings to naval clashes since February. Sporadic killings continued on Friday as Solheim met President Mahinda Rajapakse.
"We are worried, no doubt. We are worried that this will continue or even grow worse," Solheim told Reuters in an interview as he headed for the airport en route to Japan for a crunch meeting of Sri Lanka's main international donors.
"The situation is grave -- many people are killed more or less every day now. To sum it up by month or year, it would be a very high number," he added.
"People all over the north and east are living with fear," said Solheim, who is also Norway's International Development Minister.
The minister said there had been no breakthroughs during what he described as a routine visit. His special peace envoy, fellow Norwegian Jon Hanssen-Bauer, is due to visit the rebels' northern stronghold on Saturday.
The Tigers -- who want the de facto state they run in the island's north and east recognised as a separate Tamil homeland -- have pulled out of peace talks indefinitely.
They accuse the military of helping a band of former comrades led by a renegade rebel commander called Colonel Karuna to attack and kill their fighters, and say the attacks must stop before any talks can resume.
The government denies any involvement with the Karuna faction and says it cannot find any gun-toting fighters in its territory to disarm. But analysts, truce monitors and the international community are sceptical.
"The main issue at the moment is that a) the LTTE should stop assassinations, claymore attacks etcetera, and b) the government should deliver on what they promised at Geneva (talks in February) to stop all attacks by armed groups operating from their territories, including Karuna," Solheim said.
The Tigers have warned that continued attacks could restart the two-decade civil war that killed more than 64,000 on both sides and displaced hundreds of thousands before the 2002 truce.
"At the moment I take every statement seriously," Solheim said. "The eye-for-eye logic which is there now, where both sides are reciprocating to what they see as attacks from the other side ... must be stopped."
Firefights and mortar fire are now commonplace near forward defence lines in the north and east, and many fear escalation will deter investment in the $20 billion economy and dent growth that has averaged nearly 6 percent a year since 2003.
Diplomats say the European Union is poised to ban the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organisation following a series of deadly ambushes on the military, including the worst naval clash since the ceasefire.
The Tigers have said that the ban, expected to be rubber-stamped later this month, will only "exacerbate the conditions of war".
"Very clearly there is impatience from everyone in the international community. Everyone wants Sri Lanka to restart the peace process," Solheim said.
May 26, 2006
By Simon Gardner
COLOMBO, May 26 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka risks sliding deeper into violence that some fear could reignite civil war unless Tamil rebels stop killing and the government reins in armed groups opposed to them, Norway's peace broker warned on Friday.
Erik Solheim, who brokered a four-year-old ceasefire, appealed to both sides to take a hard look at how they can defuse a "very, very serious" situation. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) say it could escalate into a high-intensity war.
More than 270 soldiers, police, civilians and rebels have been killed in a rash of attacks from suicide bombings to naval clashes since February. Sporadic killings continued on Friday as Solheim met President Mahinda Rajapakse.
"We are worried, no doubt. We are worried that this will continue or even grow worse," Solheim told Reuters in an interview as he headed for the airport en route to Japan for a crunch meeting of Sri Lanka's main international donors.
"The situation is grave -- many people are killed more or less every day now. To sum it up by month or year, it would be a very high number," he added.
"People all over the north and east are living with fear," said Solheim, who is also Norway's International Development Minister.
The minister said there had been no breakthroughs during what he described as a routine visit. His special peace envoy, fellow Norwegian Jon Hanssen-Bauer, is due to visit the rebels' northern stronghold on Saturday.
The Tigers -- who want the de facto state they run in the island's north and east recognised as a separate Tamil homeland -- have pulled out of peace talks indefinitely.
They accuse the military of helping a band of former comrades led by a renegade rebel commander called Colonel Karuna to attack and kill their fighters, and say the attacks must stop before any talks can resume.
The government denies any involvement with the Karuna faction and says it cannot find any gun-toting fighters in its territory to disarm. But analysts, truce monitors and the international community are sceptical.
"The main issue at the moment is that a) the LTTE should stop assassinations, claymore attacks etcetera, and b) the government should deliver on what they promised at Geneva (talks in February) to stop all attacks by armed groups operating from their territories, including Karuna," Solheim said.
The Tigers have warned that continued attacks could restart the two-decade civil war that killed more than 64,000 on both sides and displaced hundreds of thousands before the 2002 truce.
"At the moment I take every statement seriously," Solheim said. "The eye-for-eye logic which is there now, where both sides are reciprocating to what they see as attacks from the other side ... must be stopped."
Firefights and mortar fire are now commonplace near forward defence lines in the north and east, and many fear escalation will deter investment in the $20 billion economy and dent growth that has averaged nearly 6 percent a year since 2003.
Diplomats say the European Union is poised to ban the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organisation following a series of deadly ambushes on the military, including the worst naval clash since the ceasefire.
The Tigers have said that the ban, expected to be rubber-stamped later this month, will only "exacerbate the conditions of war".
"Very clearly there is impatience from everyone in the international community. Everyone wants Sri Lanka to restart the peace process," Solheim said.
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