GOSL should sign Rome Treaty on ICC

by Janaka Perera

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group's first report on Sri Lanka issued recently raises several serious questions on the peace process. If it is a failure as the ICG report states, where do we go from here? One of the conclusions that can be drawn from the report is that the Norwegian peace facilitators have not performed the role expected of them. It means that the facilitator has not adopted strong measures against the party (the LTTE) that constantly violated the CFA.

Norwegians misjudged the situation by equating the LTTE with the Tamil population. There is a deep sense of frustration among the Norwegians as a result of cancellation of meetings. The LTTE clearly increased its clout and preparation during the ceasefire. The root of the problem is to think of CFA as sacrosanct.

It is an established fact that the Wanni Tigers' ceasefire violations have far outnumbered that of the Security Forces from the time the CFA was signed. Yet the peace facilitators and the international community have been giving equal recognition to Sri Lanka's elected Government and a self-styled liberation group whose rogue state has no legitimacy.

There ought to be a powerful global moral voice to prevail on the LTTE. It is high time that Government considered becoming a signatory to the Rome Treaty on the International Criminal Court (ICC). It has potential to put pressure on the LTTE and make room for the ICC to indict the Tigers.

ICC can take up the LTTE's case as its first case in Asia. This would allow the ICC to indict the LTTE. ICC must take up the case of LTTE as its first case in Asia. There is no question that international pubic opinion has to be mobilized against the LTTE.

The ICC would be an effective weapon in the Government's armory, if it were to investigate recruitment of Tamil children and employment of child soldiers by the LTTE.

A good example of a successful Peace Process is the Aceh Peace Process. In contrast to the Norwegians, the peace facilitator from Finland adopted a tough approach from the very start by laying down three conditions on the separatist rebels:

a. No separate country (independence) for them

b. There must be a democratic element in the solution

c. Negotiations must be completed within a strict time frame

d. If Sri Lanka's peace process is to be renewed in Sri Lanka India must be squeezed into it as one of the facilitators.

The December 11 landmark elections in Aceh is seen as giving new hope to a region torn by nearly 30 years of separatist war. Like in Aceh any renewed peace process in Sri Lanka must be completed within a strict time frame. It must have a very broad inclusive approach based on democratic principles.

There must be a broad political involvement and no secretiveness, the kind that was seen in the ceasefire agreement which Ranil Wickremesinghe Government signed with the Tigers.

A major factor in the failure of the peace process is local `peace' groups that conveyed a wrong message to the international community, giving the impression that the GOSL alone should be held accountable for all human rights violations in the current conflict. One clear example is these `peaceniks' branding Sri Lanka a failed State.

Their deafening silence on LTTE atrocities and HR violations has become a stumbling block in the government's genuine peace efforts. Under the present circumstances the LTTE's conduct leaves little hope for any success in the peace process. Hence the government needs to move forward unilaterally in view of the fact that Tigers are now loosing support broadly. Government must deal with the broader issues such as security, human rights, and address the concerns of the broader Tamil community.

The President has always distinguished the Tamil community from the LTTE which has faced no adverse consequences no matter how many times it violates the CFA. Yet it is government that is being accused of violating the agreement.

Norwegians have shown a clear lack of principles. They have prevailed on the Co-chairs to adopt a soft approach towards the LTTE in spite of blatant violations of the Ceasefire.

ICG does not see a lot of room for a negotiated peace settlement. Hence, the Government needs to lay the basis for a solution and win the backing of the Tamils including the Tamil Diaspora.

There must be more international pressure on the LTTE. More LTTE Doctors, Lawyers etc. in the Tamil Diaspora, who have infringed the laws of the host country, must be put into jail. Such policy will send a strong signal to both the LTTE and their supporters.

On the signing of the CFA, the ICG report states, "...neither side had a clear idea of what the endgame might look like. Although the (then) government promised an interim administration in the north east, run by the LTTE, this did not take into account the nature of the rebel movement, which continued to kill and silence opponents, recruit child soldiers and run the areas it controlled like a totalitarian regime.

The LTTE was also unable to articulate a clear vision of its future. Its dream of a separate State - reiterated by its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in his 27th November 2006 annual speech - is unacceptable to the Sinhalese, and to the major regional power, India, and its rejection of democratic methods makes its eventual transition to pluralistic politics deeply problematic."

Up to now the Western countries have focused much attention on groups such as Al-Qaida but not on the LTTE. It is unconscionable to turn a blind eye on the LTTE. This passive approach has failed to transform the LTTE into a democratic political group. There is a certain fatigue on the part of Western Governments on this issue.

International Community has done virtually nothing to criticize the LTTE's rejection of the Govt.'s offer to send a humanitarian convoy using the A9 route to Affine or have asked the LTTE to accept this offer.

In the past, the Co-chairs were overly optimistic about the Peace Process, little realizing that the way things were moving an internationally backed authoritarian system (legitimizing the LTTE's dictatorship in the North) was the likely outcome of this Process.

The Norwegians' position made the Co-Chairs reluctant to adopt a tougher approach on Tigers. ICG have spoken to the Germans. They are liberal in their thinking. Their motivations are good. But analysis and approach is not right. The British, however, are more realistic.

There are 5 stages in mourning - first one is shock, second one is resignation, third one is acceptance of death. Norwegians are now in the third stage of mourning i.e. acceptance of the collapse of the Peace Process.

It is obvious that the LTTE cannot be swayed from its current course of action.

Therefore, the International Community must change its tactics and try to approach the Tamil Diaspora with a view to changing the LTTE's path of violence.

If the Commission of Inquiry into deaths and missing persons is conducted properly and human rights respected, then it can lead to an open and productive relationship between the International Community and the Sri Lanka Government.