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SLMM, Japan for political means

— PHOTO: AFP

A woman wounded in a blast being attended to at the Monaragala hospital, some 250 km from Colombo, on Wednesday.

COLOMBO: Winding up the nearly six-year mission, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Head Maj. Gen. Lars J Solvberg said here on Wednesday his mission was “absolutely convinced that the ‘complex conflict’ cannot be solved by military means.”

At a press conference here, Maj. Gen. Solvberg said he drew this conclusion as the operation was about to be terminated. “It is not a task for the SLMM, however, to advise the parties to the CFA, nor other actors, how to find viable solutions. This has to be left to the people of Sri Lanka themselves – supported by facilitating actors of their choice,” he said.

To a question, Maj. Gen. Solvberg said the level of hostilities in the last few months had gone up to such an extent that it was impossible for the SLMM to keep a count.

“Sometime in 2007 we came to the conclusion — given the large-scale number of violations of the CFA — [that] it was impossible for us to give our rulings and we stopped. At the moment we are not in a position to give figures of violations by either side.”

The Agreement signed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the LTTE in February 2002 outlined the mandate for the Mission as a tool to watch the CFA implementation.

The abrogation implied SLMM’s termination. It was on January 2 the Rajapaksa government took the decision to withdraw from the moribund CFA and served the mandatory 14-day notice to Norway, the official facilitator of peace talks.

The SLMM head said during the initial years, there was seemingly a general spirit of cooperation between the parties. Violations were relatively few.

“But lack of progress on critical issues nurtured distrust between parties, giving setbacks in the peace process. Gradually the conflict level increased, involving more military activities, more violence affecting civilians, more signs of insecurity, and more displacement of people. Today, the ground situation displays a reality very far from what is outlined in the CFA”.

Separately, Tamil United Liberation Front leader V. Anandasangaree condemned “the most brutal and cowardly act of the LTTE” that caused the death of 26 innocent civilians. He said it was time the LTTE stopped killing innocent civilians, which is not going to serve any purpose other than infuriating the international community.

“I have more than once found fault with the media, particularly the Tamil media all over the world for their failure to condemn these ruthless activities of the LTTE. Their failure to do so, in one way amounts to encouraging the LTTE to terrorise the civilians more and more. Some human rights activists too make the same mistake,” he said.

In another development, Special Envoy of Japan Akashi, at the end of his three-day mission, said the decision to withdraw from the CFA may lead to an increased level of violence and greater civilian casualties.

He said he conveyed to Mr. Rajapaksa the serious concerns of his government and emphasised that a political solution would be indispensable.

In that context, a devolution package on which Colombo had been exerting considerable efforts must be drafted as soon as possible.

He said the President expressed his commitment to a political solution, saying the package would be completed very soon.

“With regard to human rights issues, our government has been urging the government of Sri Lanka on the vital need to improve the human rights situation, and I reiterated our concern over this matter to the President. We will continue to observe closely the political, military and human rights situation in Sri Lanka.”

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