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High Security Zone dispute settled : Govt, LTTE agree to settle civilians outside security zones

From Arjuna Ranawana in Thailand

The Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) yesterday resolved the contentious issue of resettlement of civilians within the High Security Zones in Jaffna by agreeing to begin the process in areas outside these zones.

LTTE Chief Negotiator Anton Balasingham told reporters the LTTE has agreed to begin the resettlement outside the HSZs maintained by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces "as a first stage".

The government, he said, has taken the view that the issue is of a humanitarian nature and will not link it with the disarming of the LTTE.

A timetable for the resettlement will be finalised today, the third day of the fourth round of peace talks now on in Nakhon Pathom in Thailand.

The government's Chief Negotiator, Minister Professor G.L. Peiris told reporters that the question of resettlement is "daunting in its proportions but we have to begin somewhere". Some 90,000 families comprising nearly 320,000 people are to be resettled in Jaffna.

Prof. Peiris reiterated that the resettlement programme would be implemented without jeopardising the security of the State in any way.

Balasingham stressed that the Tamil people "have an unconditional right to resettle in their native places".

Before this round of talks the LTTE had asked for resettlement inside HSZs as well. A controversy was generated when an internal military memorandum called for the decommissioning of LTTE weapons before this resettlement takes place.

The LTTE had said that was unacceptable. "The decommissioning of our weapons is a security issue of our people and this has to be discussed when a final solution is arrived at," Balasingham said.

The LTTE also did not call for the withdrawal of any Armed Forces personnel or camps from the Jaffna Peninsula. "We do not want to upset the balance of power and are willing to address the security concerns of the Sri Lankan Army," Balasingham added.

He said the attempted linkage between resettlement and decommissioning was a "serious issue" and there had been a lengthy discussion about it at the plenary of the talks yesterday.

The dispute has caused the LTTE to declare that the sub-committee on De-escalation and Normalisation "was not operative" and say it would not attend the next scheduled meeting of the committee on January 14. The government however said this was the LTTE's view and as far as it was concerned the committee continued to exist.

An international group of military experts will now be called in to find out "ways to rearrange or relocate the military installations so that the resettlement of people can go ahead in the HSZs without compromising their security," Balasingham revealed.

Balasingham said the LTTE perceives that there "are two centres of power", referring to the President and the Prime Minister. "Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe's government has understood the problem and is seeking a solution, but we have to wait and see whether the military, which comes under the President, which has taken a hardline, will implement the proposals."

The LTTE however brought up the issue that the people of the North still suffered privations due to lack of basic infrastructure. "Politically we have achieved substantial results even discussing a federal solution but on the ground the existential problems of the masses have not been solved," Balasingham pointed out.

Professor Pieris leads the government team comprising Ministers Milinda Moragoda and Rauf Hakeem and the Director General of the Peace Secretariat Bernard Goonetilaka. They were assisted by Defense Secretary Austin Fernando, Major-General Shantha Kottegoda and several other officials.

The LTTE team is led by Anton Balasingham with political leader Paramu Thamilselvan, military representative M. Karuna and Adele Balasingham acting as secretary. The head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat S Pulitheevan is among the other officials.

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