Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Switchboard >

Sri Lanka in Crisis

19:07 / 05.11.03

It appears that the divisions in Sri Lanka between the Prime Minister and President have escalated.

The current row has postponed next week's slated peace talks between the Government and the Tamil Tigers and could well put the Norwegian-backed peace process in the country at risk. It isn't good news, all said; Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, but thousands of people have died on both sides of this conflict.

Things certainly seemed to be settling down in Sri Lanka a bit, and good progress seemed to be being made, but it appears that political rivalries and petty point scoring between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe could jeapoardise a process which seemed to be going fairly well.

What do you think of the latest development? Do you think there is a chance of peace in the country? What are your opinions on those involved, Tamil Tigers or the majority Sinhalese government? Do you actually care about the Sri Lanka peace process? Do you think it is given less coverage than other similar disputes, and if so, why?

19:18 / 05.11.03

Sri Lanka is given less prominence (but still a fair bit of coverage - in the UK at least) because its lack of resources (read oil) or geopolitical import (ie its an island and doesn't share a border with anyone important).

07:11 / 06.11.03

it's an interesting process, especially for residents of toronto, like me. the only place with more sri lankans than toronto is sri lanka. there are tiger funding charaties, streetgangs and (rumoured) lots of actual tiger fighters here.

so i was pretty happy when the peace process began to look good, i just hope it keeps going strong.

17:41 / 06.11.03

Well I never knew of the Toronto connection; very odd.

Sadly, Jay, it seems unlikely that the peace process will keep going strong now that the country's president has started flexing her political muscles. She's dismissed three ministers, and, it seems, seized control of the military and the media - all of this while the PM was out of the country talking to George Bush about successes in battling terrorism and moving on the peace process. It just took a few actions while he was away and it is starting to look worrying in Sri Lanka again. It seems to me that what Kumaratanga is doing is, at best, ill-advised and based on the past rather than looking at the future; and at worst, calculated to tip the country back towards civil war. Great.

Sleaze, I'd take issue with the fact that Sri Lanka gets a fair bit of coverage. To be fair the most recent problems have been covered - but before that, cricket and Jamie Oliver accidetally wearing a Tamil Tigers T-shirt were about the best you could hope for.

I get completely the idea that Sri Lanka is given less prominence because of its lack of resources (read oil) or geopolitical import (ie its an island and doesn't share a border with anyone important) for, y'know, them - but hey, shouldn't we sit up and take an interest?

19:09 / 06.11.03

...but is there a link between the peace process there and the current political battle? Or is it just the PM vs. the President?

19:19 / 06.11.03

Well, the row between the two has put on hold the next round of peace process talks and the reasons given by the president are basically to do with the peace process and its concessions, so yeah, I'd say there was a link.

Part of the problem does seem to be the way the Sri Lankan constitution is set up, as this encourages the possibility of splits between the PM and president, who are in opposition parties...

I'm just off out, but I'll do a bigger post on this some point soon if anyone's interested...

17:30 / 07.11.03

...or even if they aren't.

Good Q and A explaining soem of the conflict here from the BBC

From there, basic arguments behind the conflict;

Until a ceasefire first declared in December 2001, the Tigers had been fighting for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east.
They argued that the Tamils are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese population.
But, as peace talks progressed, the Tigers dropped their demand for independence and say they will now settle for regional autonomy - a major concession.
The government also gave ground - this was the first time it had agreed to share power with the Tamil Tigers.

I think I should say straight away I hold no particular brief for leaders on either side; but Sri Lanka shouldn't have to be put through a war like this.

Both the Government and the Tamil Tigers have done thinsg which are pretty damn reprehensible, but it seems that things started to change and move towards peace under the new PM who came in in 2001. The peace process has been set up and was starting to work until the president began messing around; there were the usual to-ings and fro-ings but thinsg seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Hopefully, with the PM back and emergency restrictions lifted, things might improve: but it's worth keeping a watching brief on anyway, just in case...

18:49 / 07.11.03

NMA- you know i just head about that after i had posted here. it's a damn scary situation.

here's a few links about tamils in toronto. not in depth research I'm afrad.

Up to 8,000 Tamil guerrillas living in Toronto, RCMP says

Study finds Toronto gangs linked to terrorism

Tamil-Canadian Association Website

19:13 / 07.11.03

I vaguely remember was a broohaha a few years ago regarding the Canadian government accepting money from the Tigers or something...

Side note: One of the internationals helping set up the new power-sharing Sri Lanka is former Ontario premier Bob Rae. Apparently the new multi-ethnic federation is partly modeled on Canada...

18:39 / 10.11.03

Watching brief on things shows they don't look good:

Aid Delayed: A political tussle between Sri Lanka's president and prime minister could delay foreign aid to the country, a World Bank official said on Monday.

Analysts said investment, tourism and economic growth could also be affected if the crisis lasts for too long.

Donors pledged about $4.5 billion in aid earlier this year to rebuild the war-torn island, but said progress was needed at peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Those peace talks have, of course, been put on hold;

Face-to-face peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels have been postponed indefinitely, the government said Monday, dealing a major setback to ending Sri Lanka's two-decade ethnic conflict.

That said, the cricket is still going ahead; “We are not concerned about the situation as it stands, nor are we talking about contingency plans, because at the moment we see no need. It would take a very significant event, such as a large terrorist act, to stop the tour,” said John Read, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) director of corporate affairs.

So that's alright then...