COLOMBO: The refusal of Tamil Tiger rebels to dismantle a camp in northern Sri Lanka highlights the supposed clout — as well as weaknesses — of Scandinavian peace monitors whose presence is supposed to keep the ceasefire going.
The multinational Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), as the monitors are called, ruled as early as June 26 that a new Tiger camp in Manirasakulam in the north-eastern Trincomalee district lies in government-controlled territory — and must be removed.
But despite several communications by the SLMM, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the Tigers are officially known, have refused to budge.
In the ceasefire agreement signed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran in February 2002, both parties agreed to abide by the SLMM’s rulings. However, this has not happened.
The Tigers argue that the camp in Manirasakulam, surrounded by several Sri Lankan Army camps, has been in existence for a while and that they have just moved in after an absence.
But the lack of action on the SLMM’s findings brings to the fore questions about how the ceasefire is being implemented — and the role of the SLMM that is supposed to ensure that it is followed.
“It has created a problem for us. With the LTTE not moving from the camp, next time the other side will not listen to us. It has undermined our role,” Hagrup Haukland, the deputy head of the SLMM, told IPS.
The SLMM, which consists of 53 monitors drawn from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway, have repeatedly come under pressure to keep the former warring parties apart.
Away from the glare of television cameras that have followed the negotiators for the Tigers and the Sri Lankan government since peace talks began in September 2002, the ceasefire between them has been much harder to keep going on the ground.
The tussle over the Tigers’ camp in Manirasakulam is but the latest in a string of incidents that have threatened the ceasefire — including the bombing and destruction of LTTE ships suspected of arms smuggling by the Sri Lankan Navy.
The ceasefire, the longest in Sri Lanka’s history, continues today even if the Tigers, citing lack of progress, suspended participation in the talks in April. But many are asking what the real role and utility of the SLMM is.
“I wonder whether the SLMM ever looks at itself in the mirror. It most certainly is suffering from a wimp factor,” said Dayan Jayathileke, a senior lecturer attached to the political science department of Colombo University.
Jayathileke said that while the SLMM has been strict with the government side, it has not shown the same attitude in dealing with the LTTE.
He was referring to SLMM’s request to inspect the Sri Lanka Navy’s logbooks following a sea confrontation between the Tamil Tigers and the Navy earlier in the year. “Will the SLMM demand the same from Soosai (the Sea Tiger commander)?” he asked.
Opposition legislator Sarath Amungama agrees with proposals that the composition of the SLMM be changed to include regional powers like India, which had previously intervened in the Sri Lankan conflict.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.