Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Sinhala and Tamil New Year, that is. This past week the holiday was celebrated in Sri Lanka with a government-declared temporary truce.

On Monday, April 13 the truce went into effect and lasted through Tuesday, April 14. The supposed intention of the truce was to allow the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 civilians still trapped behind battle lines to leave the area peacefully. However, very few of them took advantage of this opportunity.

In the article “Sri Lanka holiday truce under way” from the BBC, the government reported that its troops were instructed that during the truce, they should only fire if attacked. The government also reported that it had troops surrounding the war zone, ready to evacuate citizens if needed. The UN embraced this truce as “a good first step” and an opportunity to get humanitarian aid into the war zone. A humanitarian envoy from the UN, John Holmes said that “We would have liked a longer pause than this, a genuine humanitarian pause of a longer period than two days but this is a good first step.”

Many around the world seem to agree, since the article also reported that thousands of people- mostly Tamils- have been protesting in Western capitals, asking their governments to advocate a full ceasefire. However, the government has stated that Norway, whose government served as a mediator in the 2002 ceasefire agreement, will no longer have a role in negotiations.

Back in Sri Lanka, accusations have been traded as to the true intention of the truce.
According to the article “Sri Lanka ceasefire ‘a deception’” from the BBC, the LTTE has called the truce “merely an act of hoodwinking.” According to the pro-rebel website TamilNet, it was intended to “deceive the international community.” In fact, they say, the government shelled the “safe zone” where LTTE forces and civilians are trapped on the first day of the truce (the army has of course denied this- they say that the front was quiet except for a few minor clashes).
Instead, the LTTE has called for an internationally-mediated permanent ceasefire agreement. Furthermore, they say that they have consistently advocated such an agreement “to end the decades of bloodshed.”

"The LTTE desires that it should also create a conducive climate for a permanent
political resolution to the national question of the Tamils in a peaceful way.
The LTTE is ready to comply without any conditions to a ceasefire as described
above."

If you ask me, this is a big pile of B.S. To begin with, the LTTE has perfected several methods of terrorist attack, like the suicide bomber. If they had really been advocating peace this entire time, the war would have ended 20 years ago. This statement is simply FALSE. Secondly, the LTTE only wants a peaceful settlement because they’re losing, and they want to make it a big international deal because they think they can garner support and pity from the international community in establishing their separate state of Eelam in Sri Lanka. The LTTE is anything but humanists; they have no desire to end the bloodshed- unless it’s their blood being spilled. They only want to achieve their political ends and this is the best way for them to go about that right now.

On the other hand, the government has accused the LTTE of holding civilians hostage and using the two-day truce to “shore up defenses.” Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona actually accused the LTTE of forcing civilians to rebuild defenses (which the LTTE of course has denied). This would not be entirely unheard of: Human Rights Watch in its “War on the Displaced” report listed forced enlistment of civilians to military work among the human rights violations going on in Sri Lanka. Along these lines, the government has refused to extend the truce period because, "What is the purpose of keeping it extended if they don't let the people go?" as Dr. Kohona asked. Another government official said that "a longer pause was not possible because the Tigers have so far failed to demonstrate any genuine goodwill on their part in allowing the civilians to have free movement".

Personally, I think that this refusal to extend the period supports the LTTE’s characterization of the truce as essentially a publicity stunt. Of course with more time, more civilians would exit the war zone. If the government really wants to avoid civilian casualty, they should be focusing on evacuating civilians, not fighting the LTTE around civilians. They should extend the truce period and engage in real discussions with the LTTE, if not for peace, at least for the handover of civilians in the war zone.

According to the BBC article, “Sri Lanka rejects UN truce appeal,” the government has said since the conclusion of the truce that they would “not launch any massive military assault on the safe zone due to the presence of the civilians.” I also find this pretty hard to believe and I think that it’s only meant for propaganda. How else will they achieve their self-proclaimed goal of annihilating the LTTE than by “massive military assault[s]?” Instead, the senior civilian official in charge of the war, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse has said that the government is planning on extracting civilians “discreet [ly] and surgical[ly].” He said, “We are carefully monitoring the ground situation. When the time comes we will go in, it is purely for the field commanders to decide." This also seems to leave a lot of room for ambiguity. Unless I see some action soon, I personally see this as just talking the talk with absolutely no intention of walking the walk. In addition, Mr. Rajapakse has said that if the government forces find rebel leader Prabhakaran, they will “take him out” no matter what, though of course they will “take all measures to avoid civilian casualties.”

It is difficult to see that anything has been accomplished by this truce. Neither the LTTE nor the government really seem more inclined toward an ultimate solution, and they have kicked out mediators who tried to help them in the past (Norway). More accusations have flown back and forth, feeding the flames. And very few civilians escaped the war zone. One report said that only 18 had left by Monday, and another said that “a few hundred” had escaped by the conclusion of the truce. The LTTE said that people didn’t leave because they “feared the military,” but I think that the government’s explanation that the LTTE held them hostage and forced them to build up rebel defenses is more plausible. Either way, tens of thousands of people are still trapped and the country is no closer to an agreement. Here I have to agree with the LTTE that this was merely a publicity stunt on the government’s part, an attempt to get some good press. Ultimately, though we are no closer to peace than we were a week ago.