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| Sunday, 02 March 2003 |
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Bala to brief LTTE leader on next round of talks The arrival of LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham in the island today, the positive note sounded by President Chandrika Kumaratunga at the 13th Non-Aligned Summit at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the pledge by Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat Donald C. McKinnon, are being considered as positive signs of the peace talks. Balasingham's arrival in the country today to meet with LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has much to do with the vital sixth round of peace talks to be held in Japan from March 18 to 21 than to brief Prabhakaran on the past talks. The forthcoming talks will be centred on the disbursement of the massive aid pledged at the June Tokyo parley. Furthermore the donor countries recently sounded a warning that the quantum of aid will be directly linked to the commitment by both parties in sticking to the MoU. Diplomatic sources said that ceasefire violations by the LTTE which has irked even the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to the extent of openly criticising the organisation. Balasingham is expected to take up this matter seriously with the Tiger leader to ensure aid for reconstruction of the war ravaged North and East and its rehabilitation and to keep the peace process on track. Meanwhile, addressing the 13th Non-Aligned Summit at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last week President Chandrika Kumaratunga said that despite difficulties, the government is engaged in talks with the LTTE in a peaceful atmosphere which political observers interpret as her commitment to peace through negotiations. Donald C. McKinnon who was in Jaffna on Thursday participated at a conference convened by the Jaffna District Secretary S. Pathmanathan. Prior to the Jaffna meeting he had a long discussion with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on Wednesday. At the Jaffna meeting, the District Secretary provided recently compiled statistics on the post MoU atmosphere in the peninsula, the population distribution, the urgent necessities of the population and the High Security Zones. In reply Mr. McKinnon told the conference that the Commonwealth is quite aware of the losses and damages due to the war and at present his organisation is concentrating on development work in the peninsula and the Commonwealth based agencies would soon visit the peninsula to implement the work program. He also assured the Jaffna based government organisations that the Commonwealth is ready to help the country to achieve peace through negotiations. Balasingham is expected to brief the LTTE leader on the impending development of the North and East pledged by the international community and the need for the observance of the MoU. |
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