Homecomings and negotiations

Sunday Observations: The Political Column

It was a week of frenzied and unexpected developments, not the least of which was the speech by Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike in Parliament, in which he called Indian High Commissioner Nirupama Rao ''pretty'' and then lambasted her for interfering in Sri Lankan affairs.

We now have it on authority that the President called the High Commissioner to distance himself from that position.

India had not deserted Sri Lanka particularity on this occasion of recent hostilities, and the Indian government had also approved of the President's call to appoint an International Commission that would probe all abductions, extra judicial killings etc., arising from the recent events.

The President has not hidden the fact that this call for a Commission is also with a view to clear the issue on the murder of 17 aid workers, employed by a French organisation rendering humanitarian assistance in Muttur.

The call for an International Commission was with a view to freeing the government of willy-nilly accusations, such as the one levelled by departing SLMM Chief Ulf Henriccson on this issue.

The issue was also raised in the European parliament, and it is felt that the best way to counter all such negative publicity would be to get the facts out in the open so that the Armed Forces could be exonerated.

The President also received a call midweek from Eric Solhiem, Norwegian special peace envoy, who we learn, attempted to advance the LTTE line that the regaining of Sampur by troops, was 'not quite ceasefire- friendly.' The President maintained the position that Sampur was overrun by LTTE cadres after the ceasefire was signed, which was a position exposed by the late Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgarmar.

But it is learnt that Solhiem repeatedly tried to assert his position, to which the President shot back that 'freeing Sampur of LTTE control is a regional necessity, probably appreciated by all regional countries, for the simple fact that LTTE control over Sampur, gives the LTTE effective control over Trincomalee, one of the most strategically important deep sea harbours in the world.'

* * * *

* * Regards the issues of the President's political negotiations with two key political parties, we present to you the straightforward facts of the respective negotiations as follows:

The efforts to reach consensus with the UNP:

The President's proposal was that a UNP committee and a SLFP committee should discuss the issues common to both parties at a party level ie: two committees to represent both parties as the negotiations are being done with the JVP.

The UNP leader however had written back to say that a party leader's summit between him and the President should kick off any negotiations between the two parties.

No appointment has so far been granted by the President however, and it is reliably learnt that no real consensus has been reached between the two parties, even though it has been widely held that there will be discussions between the President and Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees last evening.

The effort to reach compromise with the UNP:

6 SLFP delegates and 3 JVP delegates conducted a round of discussions after a recent exchange of letters between the parties, in which it was made clear that there are vast differences in the SLFP and JVP planks.

This week's discussions however yielded much better results and there were indications of reaching compromise on many of the issues even though we are not certain of the details.

It was also almost a personal Presidential prerogative to re-settle refugees who fled LTTE violence in Muttur. This was almost in defiance of some NGO actors who wanted the camps to continue indefinitely.

Said the President that ''it was 20 years since any refugees have been resettled after they were displaced, and this is a unprecedented move that should be considered a humanitarian victory.''

The most ringing endorsement for that seemed to come from the refugees themselves, who returned home with the sheer joy of homecoming written all over their faces.