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Sri Lanka's crisis

International Herald Tribune, USA
http://www.iht.com
November 13, 2003

Editorial

Last week, while her prime minister was visiting Washington, President Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka pulled something of an internal coup, suspending Parliament and taking over control of the news media and the security forces. Her stated reason was that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was yielding too much ground in negotiations with the Tamil Tigers, guerrilla rebels who have been fighting the government for 20 years. The move triggered a political crisis and jeopardized the fragile but promising talks the prime minister had been holding with the Tamils, as well as the economic benefits they were bringing Sri Lanka. What makes the president's action all the more deplorable is that it was apparently motivated by a political feud with Wickremesinghe. Kumaratunga should rescind her actions.

President Kumaratunga, who lost an eye in a Tamil Tiger suicide attack in 1999, does have reason to be nervous about talking peace with the rebels. A fanatical, cult-like group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has carried out more suicide bombings than any other terrorist organization in the world; Al Qaeda is said to have studied its tactics. But after 20 years of inconclusive war and 64,000 deaths, both rebels and government realized that they would not settle the conflict through force. Since February 2002, in peace talks aided by Norway, the government had begun to address some of the real grievances of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, rooted in a history of injustice at the hands of the Sinhala majority. The Tigers had begun to move away from violence and toward political solutions, seeking autonomy rather than a separate state. As a result, foreign investors and tourists had returned, the economy had recovered, and a $4.5 billion aid package from international donors was waiting in the wings.

Kumaratunga came to power in 1994 as a champion of peace, but lately that mantle had shifted to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who represents a rival political party. Under Sri Lanka's constitution, the president and the prime minister are elected separately, and the two had become embroiled in an old-fashioned power struggle. Foreign diplomats are putting discreet pressure on the president and prime minister, who were scheduled to meet Wednesday, to resolve their differences in order to protect the peace process. That would be wise. But the primary responsibility lies with the president. She should immediately reinstate the ministers she sacked, lift the suspension of Parliament and yield control of the media and armed forces, respecting the mandate that Sri Lankans have given Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to forge a just and lasting peace.

http://www.iht.com/articles/117411.html