Security

Politics

World

Letters

Sports

Obituaries

Archives

Review CFA

The Government and the LTTE have agreed to direct talks to review the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). This follows a request made by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to the Royal Norwegian Government acting under Clause 4.3 of the CFA.

We view this as a positive development.

Though the CFA has withstood the test of time for almost three and half years there were moments when its very existence was threatened. However, saner counsel prevailed and both sides continued to abide by the CFA in general.

There were violations on both sides but the credit should go to the government for abiding by the agreement in spite of more than 3000 odd violations by the LTTE. Of late these LTTE violations of the CFA became so numerous and so frequent that the latter almost became a dead letter.

The last but not least of these violations was the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

The tragic death of Minister Kadirgamar has emboldened certain sections of the anti-dialogue forces in the South to call for the abrogation of the CFA. This once again proves that extremism in the North and the South feed each other and hence both are obstacles to the peace process.

There is no doubt the CFA is structurally flawed. Therefore there is no surprise at the call for its revision. The surprise is why it had taken so long and how many persons had to pay with their lives due to these structural faults in the CFA.

The most violated clause in the CFA concerns military actions. It reads as follows:

"1.2 Neither Party shall engage in any offensive military operation. This requires the total cessation of all military action and includes, but is not limited to, such acts as :

a) The firing of direct and indirect weapons, armed raids, ambushes, assassinations, abductions, destruction of civilian or military property, sabotage, suicide missions and activities by deep penetration units;

b) Aerial bombardment:

c) Offensive naval operations. "

Another clause that is violated is Clause 2.1 which reads as " The Parties shall in accordance with international law abstain from hostile acts against the civilian population, including such acts as torture, intimidation, abduction, extortion and harassment."

The government has been helpless in the face of these violations mainly due to the structural weakness in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The latter proved to be a paper tiger. It has no powers to discipline truce violators. At times even their personnel came under attack.

Another flaw is the dual role of Norway as facilitator and Chairman of the SLMM.

In any review of the CFA one should look towards strengthening the SLMM by giving it more teeth to take punitive sanctions against violators of the CFA. In view of the geographical spread of the CFA violations the SLMM needs to be expanded and perhaps other states, mutually agreed by both parties, should also be included in its composition.

Of grave concern has been the question of human rights violations including the conscription of children into its military wing by the LTTE. Despite pledges to stop the practice of recruiting child soldiers given to the United Nations, the LTTE continues the practice unabated.

Another factor complicating the law and order situation, particularly in the East has been the guerilla operations of the Karuna group.

Unlike the other paramilitary groups that have entered the democratic mainstream the Karuna faction operates underground. Hence it cannot be apprehended and disarmed easily. It is a late development and they do not fall within the purview of the CFA. Hence, both sides to the Agreement have to come to an understanding on how to deal with it in the best interests of peace and security, especially in the East.

As war is not an option, the CFA should be revised and strengthened if one is to progress from negative peace to positive peace, which is the aspiration of all peoples inhabiting our land.

A tsunami business

Last week we carried a news report which said several high profile NGOs and INGOs that have signed MoUs with the government to construct hundreds of houses for the tsunami victims have so far failed even to make a start in constructing those houses though they were provided with money and land.

They have been rather slow to initiate work while the funds granted have been placed in deposit accounts in banks earning interest.

We also received information that some of these organizations have hired luxury rooms in five star hotels and purchased luxurious vehicles for the comfort of their officials and expatriate consultants.

In the meantime these NGOs blame the government for the delay and carry on negative propaganda abroad. We wonder whether they are willfully delaying construction with a hidden political agenda hoping for a change of government or an early election.

Perhaps it may be simply to justify their delay by transferring the blame to the government so that their bank accounts would get fatter and fatter as the plight of the unfortunate tsunami victims get worse and worse with time.

However unpleasant it is, the tsunami has become big business for some.

www.ceylincoproperties.com

| News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security |
| Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries | Junior Observer |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager