Monday

Monday February 22 1999

Sri Lanka

Politicking may have wrecked bid for Tiger peace talks

A new bid to bring the Tamil Tiger rebels to the negotiating table may have suffered a blow due to political manoeuvring ahead of upcoming local polls, Tamil legislators said yesterday.

A group of Buddhist monks from the majority Sinhalese community, who earlier this month had talks with leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said the rebels had softened their stance and wanted the Government to respond.

But politicians from the minority Tamil community said they believed the Buddhist initiative, though touted as an independent exercise, may have had the blessing of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Government.

They said the possibility of opening a dialogue could be calculated to raise peace hopes among the minority Tamil community living outside the country's embattled northeast and win their votes at the upcoming elections.

"This is all done with an eye on the next elections," said Tamil legislator Douglas Devananda, who leads the anti-LTTE Eelam People's Democratic Party. "I will be surprised if anything comes out of this."

Another Tamil lawmaker, Dharmalingam Sidhathan, agreed: "The opposition [United National Party - UNP] cry was to go for talks with the LTTE. Now the Government is also saying it, to take the wind out of the UNP's sails."

The local elections due in five provinces on April 1 are seen by many as a crucial test for President Kumaratunga ahead of parliamentary and presidential polls due between August and November next year.

The minority Tamil vote could be a decisive factor in a presidential election if the majority Sinhalese vote is equally divided between the ruling People's Alliance and former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe's UNP.

Ms Kumaratunga's People's Alliance secured one municipal election last month, but the violence which marred the poll had detracted from the result and hurt the Government's standing, ministers said.