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Peace quest

Satyagraha for peace on Galle Face Green

by Rashomi Silva

Minister P. Chandrasekeran

To counter forces opposing peace which he claimed were 'taking the upper hand', Estate Infrastructure Minister, P. Chandrasekeran of the Upcountry People's Front has organised a 'Satyragraha' today in support of the peace process.

The chief organiser of the Satyragraha, Radha Krishnan (MP) of the Upcountry Peoples Front, said "we have given an open invitation to all peace loving people in Sri Lanka including the Left parties to participate in this event. This will be a peaceful demonstration where around 5,000 participants are expected to sit on Galle Face green from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, earnestly meditating for peace. We hope to get the permission to march to the President's House and hand over a memento to President Chandrika Kumaratunga".

"While the peace opposing elements are holding pickets and showing their displeasure over the way the Government handles the peace process we want to show our solidarity and to extend our support to the Government and to the peace process".

"The JVP demands that the Iraq war be stopped but insists a war should be fought in the North. We ask the JVP why these double standards? We in Up country Peoples Front stand for peace and we want to have peace throughout the world. We want peace in Iraq as well as in the North. We want to live as Sri Lankans in this country honourably".

"The war gave us nothing but suffering. This short span of peace showed the nation's new generation, to whom peace had been a pleasant dream, what peace really meant. As much as the JVP is hell bent on toppling the peace process we are hell bent on supporting the peace process, we see an opportunity of reaching a resolution now than at any other time in history; with the masses supporting the peace process, we do not want to let that opportunity slip away", he said.

Minister P. Chandrasekaran says he supported the PA to form a government in 1994, because President Chandrika Kumaratunga pledged to end the war and to start negotiating with the LTTE to find a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict.

"If not for my support the PA may not have come to power", he says. Though the Wickremesinghe government is a relatively stable one, he says he pledged his support to the Government to end the conflict by peaceful means. "We are happy about the way the Government handles the peace process. It is evident that the Government is committed to lasting peace and to end the ethnic conflict honourably. We urge both the LTTE and the government not to take any hasty decisions. We cannot have peace in a hurry. Both parties have to be patient. It will take some time to have a permanent peace. We all have to work and wait patiently for that"

Commenting on a common complain about the lack of transparency in talks he said that he has never represented the Government or the Tamils in the peace talks abroad or in Sri Lanka. But he has confidence in the representatives and feels that the parties are genuine and have no hidden agenda.

"The UNF Government acted wisely in obtaining the service of a third party facilitator, in whom both parties and the international community can rely on. When the PA held talks with the LTTE they did not want any other country to act as third party. They said that we can handle it on our own but this is one of the biggest mistakes they made".

Members of the Indian plantation worker community

"Both the Government and the LTTE say that they have no intention of resuming the war even if the talks fail but still claim that they are ready for a war as a last resort. But we, the ordinary people of the country are not ready for war. I told this to LTTE political wing leader Thamilchelvam when I met him in Killinochchi recently and I tell this to the Government".

"It is we who suffered most in the war. Tamil youths could not find proper employment or a place to live in as they were eyed with suspicion.

The peace process has changed everything. We now enjoy this blissful peace and do not want to recommence war at any cost".

Governments tried to find a solution to this conflict, since the 50s. But opposition reluctance or public protests closed all the avenues of finding a peaceful solution, resulting in bloodshed.

It is the duty of all reasonable citizens of the country to support the peace process at a time like this and to hold on to this chance, which may be the country's last chance to end the conflict peacefully.

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Ambassador Jon Westborg's contribution to Sri Lanka's Peace Process

by Jehan Perera

Jon Westborg

The changes in Sri Lanka have been dramatic. Even 17 months ago they could not have been imagined. In civil society we talked of the power of vested interests - arms dealers, Defence Ministry authorities, LTTE, who benefited by the continuation of the war. We saw successive election mandates for peace being dishonoured in practice.

But with the change of government in December 2001, dramatic change took place. The new government showed that political will was more powerful than vested interests. It took up the peace process from where the previous government had left off.

When President Chandrika Kumaratunga announced in late 1998 that the Norwegian government would be playing a third party role in helping to resolve the ethnic conflict, a crucial building block in the search for permanent peace fell into place. Given the level of mistrust that existed between the Government and LTTE, especially after the abortive peace talks of 1994/95 and 1990/91, there was an indisputable need for a third party that could be trusted and to carry communications between the two sides.

The decision to accept foreign facilitation was a courageous decision, because the prevailing wisdom was that it would make matters worse. The overall success of the ceasefire agreement is evidence of the invaluable role played by the Norwegian facilitators in assisting the government and LTTE in pressing ahead with the peace process. Addressing a Presidential Task Force on Ethnic Affairs and National Integration that she had appointed in 2000, President Kumaratunga said that Norway had been selected because it was a small country and could not impose its will.

The memory of Indian third party intervention in the 1980s and its consequences may have prompted this line of thinking on the part of the President. But the experience with Norway has been different. The question is why.

There is an important reason for the choice of Norway as the third party intermediary.

Perhaps more than any other country, Norway has invested its time and money in promoting the peace process in Sri Lanka, especially during the past decade. During this period it took a principled stand for a peaceful settlement rather than for war as a means of conflict resolution.

In the immediate aftermath of the LTTE's withdrawal from the peace process in April 1995, most foreign governments did not wish to be seen as critical of the former government's "war for peace" strategy. On the other hand, from those initial days, Norway together with other Scandinavian countries such as more low profile Sweden adopted a consistent policy of supporting peace organisations in the country.

In addition, Norway directly supported the former government to enable awareness campaigns regarding the devolution proposals to be carried around the country. When the bigger and more powerful countries kept to the sidelines, Norway was a friend of the peace process. The Sri Lankan peace process has clearly benefitted from having a country such as Norway, which has an exceptional track record of peace making, backing it.

Motive

When investigating Norway's peace making role in different parts of the world it is difficult to identify a power political or economic rationale for such Norwegian assistance. Countries such as Guatamala in South America, Sudan in Africa, Haiti in the Carribean and Israel-Palestine in the Middle East, or Sri Lanka for that matter, are located in areas that are the domain of other much bigger powers.

Norway cannot hope to compete with them either for power political or economic gain. Most of the countries Norway is assisting are among the most impoverished in the world. They will take years if not decades to get to their feet again, even if they do resolve their conflicts.

Sometimes people empathise with the sufferings of others if they have suffered similarly themselves. It was only in 1905 that Norway achieved its independence. The Norwegian experience of being under colonial domination for some 500 years, and the exploitation and impoverishment suffered at the hands of the imperial powers of Denmark and Sweden, has given them a historical memory. Along with this memory is a desire to help others achieve prosperity and liberation in their own lives.

There is also a certain temperance and sobriety in Norwegian culture that makes them reluctant to be ostentatious in the display of their wealth and good fortune. For a Sri Lankan it is interesting to note that government ministers do not enjoy the privilege of official vehicles for their personal use. The office of Vidar Helgessen, the Deputy Foreign Minister who spends much time on the Sri Lankan peace process is sparely furnished and not much different from those of the staff.

There is an absence of the arrogance of power that Sri Lankans and people of many other societies suffer under. They do not hustle and bustle like people of importance do, which fits them into the facilitator role.

Today, the religion of Christianity is not a primary motivating factor in Norwegian assistance abroad. Like most of Western Europe, Christianity has become secularised. But its most important teaching of universalism remains.

Thus, on the streets of Oslo today, young schoolchildren will be seen canvassing the general public for assistance to various charitable causes, such as Amnesty International and UNICEF. Norwegian society tends to look at human welfare from a universal perspective, and not restrict it to their own country, but to extend it to the four corners of the world. Norway's developmental assistance to poor countries is among the one or two highest in the world taken in relation to its national income.

Concrete example

The connection between Norway's long history of developmental assistance to Sri Lanka and its present assistance to the peace process is epitomised in its outgoing ambassador Jon Westborg. Two decades prior to coming to Sri Lanka as the Norwegian envoy, he was for many years the representative in Sri Lanka for the Norwegian Save the Children Fund. For many years he was based in the impoverished southern area of Hambantota. Undoubtedly his experiences in promoting development at the grassroots of Sri Lankan society enabled him to understand the nuances of its society.

The particular strength of Ambassador Westborg's contribution was his acute awareness of the sensitivities of Sri Lanka's ethnic communities. This was coupled with his political insight into the need for people's participation in the peace process. When he met Sri Lankan civic organisations he would urge them to point out the shortcomings of the peace process and to make constructive suggestions for revision. He wanted civil society's voice to be raised so that the Government and LTTE would hear it and the Norwegian facilitators could urge the two parties to respond to those concerns in a positive manner.

At a farewell dinner for Ambassador Westborg, organised on behalf of the Peace Support Group, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu identified the full extent of Ambassador Westborg's contribution to the development of good governance in Sri Lanka. He referred to the Norwegian support for election monitoring by citizens groups that enabled large numbers of people to actively take part in protecting the integrity of the election process. Dr Saravanamuttu also mentioned the disagreements that some civil society organisations had with some of the Norwegian strategies and policies. But the important point was that the cooperation and mutual nurturing never stopped.

It is to the great credit of the Norwegian facilitators that they have been more open and nurturing to pro-peace civil society groups than either the Government or LTTE. Perhaps this is because the primary interest of the Norwegian facilitators has been the sustenance of the peace process.

As the link person in Colombo, Ambassador Westborg demonstrated in his person that it was not political power, economic gain or self-interest that motivated Norway's facilitation, but a desire for lasting peace in Sri Lanka. When he leaves Sri Lanka he will have the satisfaction of going at a time when the miracle of peace, which seemed unattainable barely a year and a half ago, is well within reach, and most people are already enjoying its fruits.

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