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Presidential Advisor and Head of the UN Treaty section, Dr. Palitha Kohona stressed the need to address a cross section of issues, many of them of immediate concern to people under the domination of the LTTE. In an interview with the Sunday Observer, Dr. Kohona stressed the need to end the prevailing environment of the violence, intimidation and extortion to ensure a normal political process. Following are the excerpts of the interview:

Do you think that there is some possibility of the talks not taking place in April in Geneva? Granted that you do not speak the Liberation Tigers, but even so what is your own thinking? Having participated in the previous talks do you think that there is any case for the Tigers to make, saying that they are not coming for talks?

Kohona - It is very important that the next round of talks take place in Geneva as scheduled. I believe that it is in the interests of both parties and all our people that we continue to talk. The first round held in Geneva, in February, resulted in a very useful and practical outcome. It is certainly the intention of the government to build on the gains made in February.

The Government would do its utmost to resolve the current situation through negotiations. Undoubtedly, the international community strongly expects the LTTE to continue the negotiations with the government. There is little doubt that this is the sincere wish of all the people of Sri Lanka, the Sinhala, the Muslims, the Tamils and others. There is only one reasonable way to proceed to resolve the current situation - that is through negotiations.

What in your view are the main bones of contention between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government? What are your reasons for saying so.....?

It would be more profitable to explore the issues that unite us, the issues that we have in common right now, rather than belabour those that divide us. Of course, at some point we will need to address the difficult ones also.

I believe that the Tamil community of Sri Lanka, as well as the Sinhalese, the Muslims, the Burghers, and others, strongly hope to see an end to this senseless conflict which has detrimentally affected our whole land. For far too long, the hopes, and aspirations of the people of Sri Lanka have been thwarted by this destructive divide.

The dreams of our children have been held hostage to the wild demands of those responsible for perpetuating the violence. In particular the people of the North and the East have been left behind as the rest of the country has developed rapidly.

It is our responsibility to all our people to ensure a rapid end to this conflict so that all the citizens of Sri Lanka, the Sinhala, the Muslims, the Tamils, the Burghers and others, are given the opportunity to realise their fondest dreams. We, as a people, are capable of achieving the best. Why deny them this opportunity?

It has been said that the next round of talks will dwell on humanitarian issues. As a team member at the previous talks, do you think that it is correct to say so? If the talks are on humanitarian issues, what exactly are the issues that will be taken up?

I think that the human rights issues, the humanitarian issues and the political issues must be given prominence at the next round of talks. The ceasefire must be strengthened and this must be used as the foundation to address the human rights, humanitarian and political issues.

All these must go hand in hand. It is important that the ceasefire not be used surreptitiously as a camouflage to advance strategic goals. The success of the ceasefire will depend on the sincerity with which the broader underlying objectives are addressed.

It is not only the negotiating parties, but also the international community and the people of Sri Lanka, wherever they may be, who will monitor the ceasefire to see whether in actual fact that there is an end to the violence, political intimidation, extortion and threats of whatever nature.

The ceasefire must result in the freedom to express political dissent without fear of intimidation, the right to political pluralism which is taken for granted in all parts of the country except those parts dominated by the LTTE, and the right to free economic activity. Our negotiations must have as their objective, the consolidation of the freedoms of all our peoples.

You are a UN treaty expert, and very recently you addressed the Australian parliament on disarmament issues. The LTTE seems to be insistent on armed groups being disarmed - and this is with reference to all armed groups other than their own. What do you think is the implication of this? Is this fair - this sort of 'disarmament' in a situation in which one-armed group is asking for the disarmament of other armed groups?

The final document from Geneva states that all armed groups be disarmed. If political freedoms are to be ensured, there will be no room for any armed groups in the body politic of the country. The existence of any armed groups would seem to contradict the concept of political freedom completely as the continuing possibility of intimidation, extortion and the ability to stifle political dissent violently would be an ongoing concern.

Likewise, if the prevailing environment of terror, intimidation and extortion is to be brought to an end, and normal political processes are to be ensured, it would seem that the disarmament of all armed groups would be a natural pre condition. However, in parallel, it would be necessary to guarantee to all Sri Lankans that their fundamental rights would be protected and advanced by the State.

Do you hope to return to Sri Lanka and assist in the peace process full time? What will happen to your UN job?

I have, in response to the request made by the President to become his Special Advisor on the Peace Process, resigned from the position of Chief of the UN Treaty Section. I consider the trust that he placed on me as an honour and a privilege.

Furthermore, it was not possible, consistent with the UN staff rules to continue to be the Chief of the Treaty Section while being a part of a national government. In any event after 11 years at the United Nations, it was probably time to leave. During this period, the Treaty Section under me achieved a number of firsts.

It was awarded the UN 21 Medal for superior performance, the Treaty Event was initiated in order to raise awareness of the 500 plus multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-general (covering the spectrum of human interaction) and is now a regular feature during each General Assembly, the Section embarked on a massive technical assistance programme targeting developing countries, and it has been recognized by the Organisation.

What are the lessons from the first round of talks in Geneva? Any dos and donts for the negotiating teams in the oncoming round?

The key lesson is "patience". A peace process is not like a one day game of cricket. There is unlikely to be a result at the end of one round or even a number of rounds. It is necessary to create an environment of confidence, not only in the other negotiating party but also in the population at large - among the Sinhalese, the Muslims, the Tamils, and others.

The people need to have a sense of confidence that the negotiations are genuinely intended to guarantee peace. This takes time, effort and enormous patience. If you look at some of the other successful peace negotiations around the world you will agree with me. For example, the Cambodian peace negotiations, the negotiations in Mozambique, in Angola, in Ethiopia, in Nicaragua, in El Salvadore, etc. They all took time.

There are other negotiations which are still continuing. For example, in Palestine. We also need to avoid the tendency to allocate points at the end of each negotiating session. Negotiations are a process and the ideal end to a negotiation is a situation where both parties could walk away feeling satisfied with the outcome - where a "win/win" situation has been achieved.

What similarities if any do you see between other peace processes, in which eventually a rebel group was disarmed? Since you are a UN expert on treaties, perhaps you would know - even though we are not sure your speciality is this particular kind of treaty!

All successful peace processes have taken time, patience and effort. There have been many pitfalls on the road to peace but we must make this effort. "Blessed are the peace makers". I have cited examples above of a number of such successful peace processes. There are others.

As you know the President has made a sincere commitment to make that extra effort and to go that extra mile in order to achieve an honourable and just peace in the context of a united Sri Lanka. The Mahinda Chintanaya clearly emphasises this. This is our challenge.

A peace process, to be successful, must have a serious commitment to that end by both negotiating parties. The Government, for its part, is committed to achieving a just peace through negotiations. Other successful negotiations around the world illustrate the need for such serious commitment by all the parties.

International pressure has played a crucial role in some of these negotiations. Also important has been the desire to achieve political pluralism, advancing human rights and above all a desire to bringing to an end to the environment of terror, intimidation and uncertainty.

There has been some criticism in the Sri Lankan newspapers implying that you are a bit of a neophyte when it comes to peacemaking, particularly compared to some of those in the teams that participated in peace talks. Any comeback on this?

I am certainly a neophyte if my experience with the LTTE were to be the only criterion. In this sense, all other previous negotiators were also neophytes at some time or other. But I assume that negotiating experience is gained not only by negotiating with the LTTE. I was in the thick of negotiations at a multilateral level in all the environment related negotiations leading up to Rio and in the follow-up processes.

I was involved in the negotiation of the land mines Convention, many of the terrorism related conventions and in the conventions and protocols relating to organised crime. Terrorism and organised crime with their obvious linkages are very familiar territory to me. As the head of the UN Treaty Section, I had the opportunity to participating in and observe many other negotiating processes.

The new team, as a whole, is rather inexperienced in negotiating with the LTTE. This is an advantage as well. Because the new team is not burdened by previous baggage. But what is clear is that the team selected by the President, for the first time in the history of negotiation with the LTTE, has the endorsement of all the political parties and the people of the South.

The President, has succeeded in building a consensus in the South and this consensus reflects the hopes and dreams of all our people. As you are aware, there were no anti-government demonstrations in Colombo following the February negotiations. We must continue in this direction and ensure that a popular consensus will bless our efforts if we are to be successful.

Do you see for yourself - again from the point of view of a participant at the previous talks - any real progress in the future in peace talks between government and the LTTE. Will the issues be permanently confined to those of high security zones and other such pressing issues or will there be a chance of the talks developing into something leading to the disarmament of the LTTE, bringing an end to the long running armed conflict in Sri Lanka?

As a responsible government, the first priority is to achieve a negotiated peace which will be just and equitable. The people expect this from the Government. The international community expects the government to make every reasonable effort to realise this objective. The vast majority of Sri Lankan expatriates dream of this eventuality. We need to address a cross section of issues many of them of immediate concern to people under the domination of the LTTE. Peace, a durable peace, will enable the country to grow and prosper as a whole.

As you know, while the country as whole recorded a growth rate of around 6% last year, the contribution of the North was less than 2%. Peace will enable investments, goods and services to flow freely from the South to the North, it will facilitate a free flow of people, and this will benefit the areas dominated by the LTTE immediately.

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