Prospects of 'Third Side' Interventions in Sri Lanka
08 Jun, 2000 · 358
Prof. RVR Chandrashekara Rao feels that the third party intercession in the Sri Lankan crisis have arrived
The Sri Lankan civil war has acquired crisis prepertions. The fact that evacuation of the government forces is on the cards, with
New Delhi
agreeing to do this, is a pointer to recurrence of a
Dien Bien Phu
.
India
is in the hapless position of wearing a “I am so totally confused” badge. The paradox is that while the
US
endorses
India
adopting a more proactive role,
New Delhi
is dragging its feet with good reason. Any direct rescue operation is a route strewn with strategic mine fields; Tamil Nadu’s opposition could affect the tenure of the NDA Government in
New Delhi
. Many options, including the rescue of the Sri Lankan garrison from
Jaffna
, are being weighed.
New Delhi
firmly rejects engaging the LTTE on the battlefront. Anyway
Colombo
is hopeful over the last few days of recovering lost ground militarily.
Jaffna
peninsula. A package involving extensive devolution of powers to the provinces, especially the eastern and northern regions, was offered, and the Government lifted the economic blockade on the secessionist region. Within three months however another sound of ethnic fighting began. The Government forces began a new offensive resulting in their wresting control of the major urban centres in the Tamil dominated northern and eastern provinces. This time, the city of
Jaffna
, the LTTE’s headquarters itself fell to the Government forces. The LTTE did not make any attempt to regain it.
Norway
. The first Israeli representatives were two scholarly peaceniks, Yair Hirschfeld and Ron Pundik, with links to the Israeli leadership. Representating the Palestine Liberation Organisation were economist Abu Alaa and two aides, Hassan Asfour and Maher el Kurd. The talks eventually ended up became official and resulted in the 1993 Oslo Accord.
Israel
and
Palestine
.
India
in the Korean Prisoners of War issue and later the
Geneva
agreement on
Vietnam
.
India
’s diplomatic credibility at the UN reinforced this process.
US
and
India
. But, the LTTE is on record as being opposed to outside intervention. Still, given the record of Norwegian diplomacy, one would expect that considerable spade work has preceded this initiative, and that informal communication channels have been opened with the LTTE and pro-Sinhalese groups.
Meanwhile,
The turn of events over the last five years has been astonishing. After coming to power in April 1994, the Kumartunga regime launched a peace offensive against the LTTE which was virtually ruling the
Witness now the magnitude of the reversal that the Government has suffered forcing it to seek outside help to rescue its beleaguered garrison.
The Norwegian initiative appears to be the only good tidings, with success of patiently weaving the Oslo Accord of 1993 between the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs. The Third Side in conflict resolution, whether inter-personal, inter-community or international, has been the model for peace activists and academicians over the last few years. Norwegian sociologist Terje Rod Larsen and diplomat Mona Juul, a husband and wife team, set up direct unofficial secret peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in
The Accord demonstrates a conflict resolution saga. It involved sheer labour of love and peace, with a near hopeless faith in hope. These negotiations ranged from those committed to peace to those who had to be converted to peace and finally zeroing on to the official managers of the state of war between the
Third party negotiations need not always be or circumspect. A chain of Third Side linkages also forms a viable model. One of the best examples of this type is the role played by
In the Sri Lankan case we are not aware whether the peace initiative has followed the pattern preceding the Oslo Accord. The nature and extent of the peace initiative in the Sri Lankan case is yet to be made public. What we now have is the Norwegian governmental initiative supported by the
With the a crisis in the Sri Lankan conflict having reached a watershed, Third Party intercession seems to have arrived not a day too soon.
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