CFA flawed and therefore doomed to be unsuccessful - Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative in Geneva, briefing a gathering of over 45 diplomats, officials of international organisations, civil society representatives and media personnel in Geneva, said that the Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) sorely lacked key characteristics of successful CFAs.

He explained the history of the CFA stating that it was signed by the LTTE and the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe but did not have the support of the popularly elected executive president and that therefore it did not have political legitimacy from its inception.

Ambassador Jayatilleka also pointed out that there are three characteristics of successful CFAs which are: reflection of the balance of forces of the two formerly warring parties, reciprocity - which means no unilateral concessions and the process of the decommissioning of arms and the democratisation of the non state actor. In each of these areas, the Norwegian facilitated CFA was sorely lacking.

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) in Sri Lanka also spoke at this special briefing which was moderated by Prof. Ranjith Mendis, a former Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka.

The CFA allowed the LTTE to undertake political activity in the government controlled areas of the north and east of Sri Lanka. However, other political parties including the Tamil ones which had entered the democratic mainstream were not allowed to do the same in LTTE controlled areas.

Ambassador Jayatilleka drew a sharp distinction between the LTTE and the IRA and explained that the LTTE did not allow for the development of its political wing.

"Following the recent abrogation of the CFA, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has committed himself to implementing the proposal put forward by the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) on political devolution and giving more powers to the provincial administrations.

"The President is fully committed to the resuscitation and full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which was a by product of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of 1987.

His policy in this regard has received the endorsement of the governments of India and Japan.

"There was a general misconception that the government of Sri Lanka had abruptly withdrawn from the CFA, when, in fact, it was the LTTE which had de facto withdrawn from it in 2003. Ambassador Jayatilleka acknowledged that there was a certain amount of pressure from ultranationalist Sinhala parties for the government to pull out of the CFA. However, this decision was taken after much consideration.

"The then Foreign Minister late Mr. Lakshman Kadirgarmar in his statements to Parliament following the signing of the CFA by the then government expressed his concern about the threat it would pose to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka due to the recognition of lines of control that could very well lead to the division of the country through international intervention."

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha expressed his sadness at the hasty manner in which some countries had rushed to make statements regarding the abrogation of the CFA by the government without fully understanding the circumstances and appreciating the facts.