Struggle to save Sri Lanka ceasefire

European ceasefire monitors met top government officials today to map out how to save Sri Lanka’s truce from collapse as Tamil Tiger rebels warned of a possible return to war.

The monitors’ chief Hagrup Haukland opened talks with Jayantha Dhanapala, in charge of the peace process, after the rebels warned on Friday that they may have to use their own armed escorts for guerrilla representatives travelling through government-held areas.

That would break Sri Lanka’s three-year-old ceasefire and push it to the brink of collapse.

The monitors’ spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir confirmed the meeting but refused to give details. But other officials involved in the process said the monitors were expected to propose a compromise on security for rebel representatives in government areas.

The country’s 2002 ceasefire allows rebels to enter government-controlled areas for political activity as long as they are unarmed. The rebels demanded boosted security while in government territory after a bomb narrowly missed a busload of their representatives last month.

The government offered last week to conditionally increase their security, but rebels rejected the offer as inadequate and said on Friday they would have to start carrying arms in government territory unless the issue was resolved immediately.

“If the military fails to give protection, (Tiger) cadres will have to take steps to protect themselves and it could lead to the breakdown of the ceasefire agreement,” SP Thamilselvan , the Tigers’ political chief, was quoted on the rebels’ website.

Thamilselvan said that the rebels’ patience “has come to an end”.

“We are in reality moving very fast toward the end of the peace efforts,” he said.

The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east of the country, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people before the ceasefire. But subsequent peace talks broke down in 2003 over rebel demands for wide autonomy.