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Tamilnation > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Conflict Resolution - Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka > Norwegian Peace Initiative > First Session of Peace Talks in Thailand & Aftermath > Anton Balasingham, Speech at Inaugural Session of Peace Talks, 16 September 2002
Anton Balasingham, Head of LTTE Delegation
"Please permit me to express my sincere thanks to the
Government of Thailand on behalf of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, for
offering your beautiful country as the venue for this historic
peace-making event. We appreciate the gracious hospitality and wonderful
conference arrangements provided here. We are happy and confident to
engage in a constructive peace dialogue in this serene environment. We are optimistic that the peace talks will succeed
because both Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation
Tigers, and Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka,
have a genuine will and a firm determination to resolve the conflict
through the process of dialogue. As far as the Liberation Tigers are
concerned, I can assure you that we are seriously and sincerely
committed to peace and that we will strive our utmost to ensure the
success of the negotiations. We are well aware that there are powerful
political forces in southern Sri Lanka who are irrationally opposed to
peace and ethnic reconciliation. Nevertheless, we are confident that the
talks will progress successfully because of the fact that the principal
parties in the conflict as well as the overwhelming majority of the
people of the island want peace and peaceful resolution of the
conflict. There is an urgent need for relief and assistance to the
war affected people. Immediate steps should be undertaken without delay,
to embark on a comprehensive program of resettlement, rehabilitation and
reconstruction. This monumental task cannot be undertaken without the
help and assistance of the international community. The concerned
international governments, who have been supporting a negotiated
settlement to the Tamil national question, should contribute generously
for the reconstruction of the war-damaged economy of the northeast.
Improving the conditions of existence of the war affected people and
effecting normalcy, congenial for their economic revival, has become a
necessary and crucial element in advancing and consolidating the peace
process. We have lived, fought and suffered with and for our
people throughout the turbulent times of the war. We have a
comprehensive knowledge of the socio-economic needs confronting the
Tamil people. We have built an effective administrative structure for
more than ten years which has sustained the social cohesion and law and
order. Therefore, it is crucial that the LTTE should play a leading and
pivotal role in administration as well as the economic development of
the Northeast.
Speech at Inaugural Session of Peace Talks,
Sattahip, Thailand, 16 September 2002
May I also express my sincere compliments and congratulations to the
Government of Norway for its success in accomplishing the difficult task
of bringing the principal protagonists - the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam and the Government of Sri Lanka - to the negotiating table. The
Tamil people are grateful to the Norwegian peace envoys for their
dedicated and persistent endeavor to bring an end to the armed
hostilities and for creating a congenial atmosphere of peace and
normalcy in the island. The task of building a permanent peace and
reaching a final settlement to the ethnic conflict may be difficult,
challenging and time consuming. Nevertheless, we are confident that with
the able assistance of the Norwegian facilitators there is a possibility
for the peace process to succeed.
Since we are required, at this inaugural function, to keep our
statements brief, I do not wish to dwell in detail or in depth on the
historical evolution of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The Tamil
struggle for self-determination has a lengthy and complex history, the
last two decades of which were characterised by a brutal and savage war.
All previous attempts to seek a peaceful negotiated settlement to this
intractable conflict ended in fiasco. Though the leadership of the LTTE
had, on several occasions, opted for cessation of hostilities and peace
talks, the previous government rejected our conciliatory gestures and
intensified the conditions of war that caused heavy loss of life and
monumental destruction of Tamil property. The intransigence of the
previous government could only be attributed to its incredible military
theory that war begets peace and political solutions can only be
realised by military means. By practicing such an absurd notion the last
government of Sri Lanka plunged the entire country into the abyss of
social and economic disaster.
The situation has radically changed with the assumption to power of
the new government with the overwhelming popular mandate for peace and
negotiated political settlement. The new government reciprocated
positively to the unilateral cease-fire declared by our liberation
organisation at the end of last year. It was at that stage the Norwegian
facilitators were able to intervene constructively and work out a
comprehensive cease-fire agreement. A mutually agreed cease-fire
agreement with international monitors from Nordic and Scandinavian
countries came into effect in February this year.
The most encouraging aspect of the current situation is that the
cease-fire has held for the last seven months, without any serious
violations. In this context I wish to compliment the foreign
representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission for their
dedication, commitment and impartiality in ensuring the smooth
implementation of the truce agreement.
Peace and stability are being restored in the island for the first
time after two decades of sustained and relentless war that has torn the
country apart. This positive atmosphere of peace has brought a sense of
relief, hope and confidence to all major communities living in the
island: the Tamils, the Sinhalese and the Muslims. A firm foundation has
been laid for peace negotiations between the principal parties in
conflict.
Normalcy of civilian life is slowly and systematically returning to
the northeast of Sri Lanka, the homeland of the Tamils and Muslims, the
region that has faced the brunt of the armed conflict. The north has
suffered the most horrendous impact of the war, where the entire
civilian infrastructure has been destroyed, where thousands of civilians
have lost their lives, where one million people are internally
displaced. The economic embargo imposed on the Tamil people for the last
one decade has had a devastating effect on their social and economic
life. This economic strangulation subjected our people to extreme
poverty and severe deprivation.
Over and above the intricate questions of conflict resolution and
power sharing, the people expect a peace dividend; they require
immediate relief to resolve their urgent, existential problems.
Therefore, the peace process cannot be undertaken in isolation without
taking parallel steps towards the economic recovery of the suffering
population. The leaders of the Sri Lanka government have expressed a
desire to transform the island into a successful Tiger economy. We
appreciate their aspiration. Such an aspiration can best be realised by
embracing the Tamil Tigers as their equal partners in the task of
economic reconstruction of the country. The LTTE is the legitimate and
authentic representative of the Tamil people.
The deepest aspiration of our people is peace, a peace with justice
and freedom; a permanent peace in which our people enjoy their right to
self-determination and co-exist with others. Peace, stability and ethnic
harmony are the foundations upon which the economic prosperity of the
island can be built. Let us strive, genuinely, with hope and confidence,
to consolidate these foundations at this forum to bring a peaceful and
prosperous life to all peoples in the island. "