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Why the Oslo meet could be crucial

Not very long ago, Kampuchea was described as the "Killing Field" of South East Asia. So fierce and brutal was the internal conflict in that country which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of persons and made life nightmarish for numberless others. Today normalcy has almost returned to that 'Heart of Darkness' of the Asian continent, thanks to a UN-inspired international trouble-shooting plan. The key to Kampuchea's comparative normalcy is international cooperation in the country's peace effort and an unremitting moral commitment on the part of the world community, to bring peace to Kampuchea.

We are compelled to focus on Kampuchea in the context of discussing Lanka's peace process, to point to the immense importance of international cooperation and goodwill in this unprecedented effort of resolving our conflict. There is no denying the fact that peace has to be primarily made among the Lankan parties figuring in the conflict - that is, the Lankan Government, the LTTE and other communities and their representatives, whose interests are likely to be affected by the current peace process. This dimension in the process is already under way, with two rounds of peace negotiations already having been concluded in Thailand and the third round due to commence in Oslo in a few days time.

However, the Lankan conflict has always had an international dimension and this was starkly evident in the war years when international assistance was required to raise global awareness on the adverse consequences of terror. This enabled the adoption of a number of international conventions which had implications for the conflict which was being waged against the Lankan State. International cooperation was particularly needed to curb arms smuggling to Sri Lanka and to stymie the flow of clandestine funds to this country.

This time round however, the need for international economic cooperation in establishing normalcy in Sri Lanka is asserting itself strongly and this, in turn, necessitates a continuous engagement with the world community on the part of the Lankan State and the LTTE. Herein, we have the rationale for the Oslo "peace support" conference which opens today.

As we have explained before, the conference could be considered more of an awareness-raising event of the Lankan parties. Pledges of economic assistance to Sri Lanka would come in proportion to the success we achieve in convincing our audience that the peace process is gaining ground and that concrete achievements are being registered on the way. This will be the single-most important criterion for the continuous pledging of development assistance to Sri Lanka.

The high level presence of some 40 countries, including the US, UK, Japan, and Canada and the participation of the EU in the Oslo meet, signify a high degree of international keenness to help Sri Lanka out of its difficulties but pledges are unlikely to translate into concrete help, unless and until we convince the world that the peace process is registering definite gains.

While wishing Lankan Government's negotiating team, headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the LTTE team at the talks all the success in this the first Lankan-centred world conference we wish to reiterate the importance of the Lankan body-politic unitedly backing this peace bid, if it is to be further consolidated. Financial assistance from the world community wouldn't be forthcoming if the peace effort is obstructed and if the impression is created that not all important Lankan actors would be backing it.

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