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Tamilnation > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Conflict Resolution - Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka > Norwegian Peace Initiative > Oslo Peace Support Meeting > US UK want LTTE to reject terror
US UK want LTTE to reject terror
The Hindu, 25 November 2002
Central to any move towards international acceptance of the
Tigers will be their "complete renunciation" of terror, violence and a
separate Tamil Eelam. In addition, there is added pressure on them to ensure
that any solution to the conflict ensures space for democratic politics.
The U.S. envoy to Colombo, Ashley E. Wills, made it clear
last week, before leaving for the Oslo conference, that the LTTE would continue
to be listed as a foreign terrorist organisation by Washington. He rejected
Opposition criticism that the participation of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of
State, Richard Armitage, in the meet was tantamount to "rewarding
terrorism". The U.S., he emphasised, "will not share a table"
with the Tigers and Washington's presence was to underline its support to help
restore peace on the island.
Asked what the U.S. was looking for as indications of a
"lasting peace", Mr. Wills told a press conference that the LTTE would
have to, among other things, publicly renounce violence and terror and
"dispense, once and for all, with the idea of a separate Tamil Eelam".
Moreover, emphasising the need to ensure plurality, he said another important
marker was to ensure that "Sri Lanka and all its component parts are
plural".
These observations have direct implications on the Tigers'
stand that the north and the east of Sri Lanka are traditional homelands of the
Tamils. The LTTE has waged its decades-long separatist conflict based on the
concepts of "traditional homelands, nationality and the right to
self-determination" of the Tamils.
The U.K., to be represented by its International Development
Minister, Clare Short, has also said that its policy was unchanged. London
maintains that the Tigers will have to "demonstrate a complete and
convincing renunciation of terrorism". Like the U.S., Britain also does not
see a contradiction between banning the Tigers and supporting the peace process.
The aim of the British law, which banned the LTTE, "is not to prevent a
legitimate dialogue between officials and a proscribed organisation, for
instance, to further a peace process". Its Foreign Office has said that
"it is important that the U.K. supports all efforts towards successful
talks".
Australia, Japan and the E.U. are the other countries that
have promised participation in the Oslo meet. Japan, which is Sri Lanka's single
largest donor, has also made it clear that there will have to be "progress
on the ground" before its development purse is opened up.
Since the first session of the latest peace process, the LTTE
has said it would consider a political solution with substantial regional
autonomy and self-governance as an alternative to a separate Eelam. On the issue
of violence and terror, it has maintained that it was not issuing death-threats.
On democracy and human rights, its position is that its "ultimate aim"
is to enter the democratic fold and that it would like to "accept and
assimilate" other non-LTTE organisations. At the ground level as well, the
LTTE has expanded its appurtenances of state through "police stations, law
courts and taxation".