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| Sunday, 27 February 2005 |
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NE relief and reconstruction: Progress on joint mechanism by Ranga Jayasuriya The Government and the LTTE are close to an agreement on a mechanism to coordinate post-tsunami relief and reconstruction in the North-East, according to the well informed sources of the negotiation process on the joint mechanism. "The two parties have almost agreed on the mechanism, except on three or four issues," sources said. There is agreement on the mandate and the composition of the joint mechanism, the Sunday Observer understands. He said the differences are on the monetary structure of the mechanism. The LTTE had demanded the World Bank to be the custodian of the special fund of the mechanism, to which the government had opposed. The World Bank is the custodian of the North-East Relief Fund (NERF) set up for the North-East rehabilitation following the Oslo mini donor conference. According to the LTTE sources, the government had also disagreed with an LTTE proposal for a two km buffer zone in Mullaitivu. "The government seems to fear that it would help weapon smuggling," the LTTE sources said. The two parties have agreed on the composition of the mechanism, which will have five Tamil, three Muslim and two Sinhalese officials. LTTE Peace Secretariat Chief S. Pulidevan is now in Colombo meeting the government Peace Secretariat delegation for discussions on the joint mechanism. A senior official of the government's Peace Secretariat said the two parties were engaged in "an exchange of views" through the Norwegian peace facilitators. "When you are exchanging views and ideas, naturally you agree on certain issues," the official said when asked about the reports of a consensus between the two parties on the mechanism, declining to elaborate. Earlier, Norwegian peace envoy, Erik Solheim this week met LTTE political Chief S.P Tamilselvan for talks on the joint-mechanism and the ceasefire on the eve of the third anniversary of the Ceasefire Agreement. Solheim later flew to Galle, Matara, Ampara and Kalmunai to see the Norwegian funded tsunami relief work in the areas. |
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