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Civil society and media organisations have an important role in assisting the peace process and identifying potential areas of breakdown of the ceasefire, says the National Peace Council, in a media release issued recently.

The release:

The extension of the ceasefires declared unilaterally by the LTTE and government are encouraging signs of a mutually endorsed peaceprocess. So far the ceasefires have been diligentlyobserved by the two sides in respect to the avoidance of physicalclashes.

This has brought relief to the people living in the conflict areas, not to mention urban areas such as Colombo, where the tension caused by the prospect of a sudden attack has diminished to nearly zero. The National Peace Council also welcomes the confidence building measures taken by the two sides, including the release of prisoners by the LTTE and the relaxing of the economic embargo by the government.

However, it must be noted that the present ceasefire situation has a major weakness. It continues to be based on the decisions taken unilaterally by the government and LTTE. The ceasefire is not one that has been mutually negotiated. This would mean that each party has given its own interpretation to what the ceasefire means.

So far there has been no joint agreement as to its meaning. This leaves room for potential misunderstanding and even deliberate exploitation by one side, or by a recalcitrant faction within it, to embarrass the other.

In the past month, there were two incidents that could have led to a localised breakdown of the ceasefire. Last week a police vehicle with senior officers on board had taken a wrong turn and entered into LTTE-held territory in the East.

Likewise, earlier in the first month of ceasefire a group of LTTE cadre in uniform and with their arms had walked into an army checkpoint seeking to go through it on the grounds that they wished to visit their relatives in the government-held area. Fortunately on both occasions, there were manifestations of goodwill and there was no violence.

However, after 18 years of war and bad faith maintaining peace on all fronts is likely to be difficult. There is a danger of small scale localised events suddenly spiralling out of control. If and when such localised breakdowns occur it is imperative that the leadership of both the government and LTTE take immediate steps to prevent the problem from spreading.

In some other countries, ceasefires have been accompanied by a commitment by the two sides not to retaliate immediately, and for each side to deal with its own violaters.

We believe that civil society and media organisations have an important role to play in identifying potential areas of breakdown and increasing the awareness of the general population so that any problems in the peace process can be overcome.

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