A briefing titled, The CFA and After: Sri Lanka’s Withdrawal from the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), was held today, 31^st January, from 15:20 to 17:20 in room XIX of the United Nations Office at Geneva (Palais des Nations). The speakers were Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process in Sri Lanka and Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva. It was moderated by Professor Ranjith Mendis a former Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka.

Representatives from India, China, Pakistan, Japan, Canada, Cuba, Iran, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Turkey, Syria, Belarus, Iran, Thailand, Palestine, Algeria, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Nepal, Kuwait, Sudan, East Timor, Laos, Azerbaijan, Maldives, Argentina and Romania were among those who attended the briefing.

Addressing the gathering of over 45 diplomats, officials of international organizations, civil society representatives and media persons, Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka said that the government’s decision to withdraw from the CFA was deplored by the UN Secretary General, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, many western states and human rights organizations.

He explained the history of the CFA stating that it was signed by the LTTE and the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe but did not have the support of the popularly elected executive president. Therefore, it did not have political legitimacy from its inception.

Ambassador Jayatilleka pointed out that there are three characteristics of successful CFAs which are: reflection of the balance of forces of the two formerly warring parties, reciprocity - which means no unilateral concessions and the process of the decommissioning of arms and the democratization of the non state actor. In each of these areas, the Norwegian facilitated CFA was sorely lacking.

The CFA allowed the LTTE to undertake political activity in the government controlled areas of the north and east of Sri Lanka, however, other political parties including the Tamil ones which had entered the democratic mainstream were not allowed to do the same in LTTE controlled areas.

Ambassador Jayatilleka drew a sharp distinction between the LTTE and the IRA and explained that the LTTE did not allow for the development of its political wing.

Following the recent abrogation of the CFA, President Mahinda Rajapakse has committed himself to implementing the proposal put forward by the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) on political devolution and giving more powers to the provincial administrations.

The President is fully committed to the resuscitation and full implementation of the                      13^th  Amendment to the constitution which was a by product of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of 1987. His policy in this regard has received the endorsement of the governments of India and Japan.

There was a general misconception that the government of Sri Lanka had abruptly withdrawn from the CFA, when, in fact, it was the LTTE which had de facto withdrawn from it in 2003. Ambassador Jayatilleka acknowledged that there was a certain amount of pressure from ultranationalist Sinhala parties for the government to pull out of the CFA, however, this decision was taken after much consideration.

The then Foreign Minister Mr. Lakshman Kadirgarmar in his statements to parliament following the signing of the CFA by the then government expressed his concern about the threat it would pose to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka due to the recognition of lines of control that could very well lead to the division of the country through international intervention.

Professor Rajiva Wijesinha expressed his sadness at the hasty manner in which some countries had rushed to make statements regarding the abrogation of the CFA by the government without fully understanding the circumstances and appreciating the facts.

He pointed out that the essence of a CFA is for the warring parties to cease fire and in this regard it was wholly lacking. According to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), between February 2002 and April 2007, the LTTE violated the CFA 3830 times, whereas the government committed only 351 violations.

Professor Wijesinha reminded the participants that it was the LTTE which has asked the Monitors from Denmark, Finland and Sweden to leave Sri Lanka following the decision by the European Union to proscribe the LTTE in May 2006 and this has left the SLMM understaffed and unable to fully verify the adherence to the CFA.

He explained that as stated in the CFA, it was not an end in itself but a step towards resolving the conflict in Sri Lanka through a negotiated political settlement, but unfortunately, it was clear that the LTTE did not believe in such a solution.

The CFA, Professor Wijesingha stated had to be abrogated for inter alia, the two following reasons: firstly, to prevent the use of it as a defense by those who are accused of raising funds for terrorist organizations; secondly to empower Tamil and other minority political parties in finding a just political solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka.

The remarks by Ambassador Jayatilleka and Professor Wijesinghe were followed by questions and comments from Ambassadors or representatives of Algeria, Canada, Palestine, Nepal, Sudan as well as the NGO, Geneva Call.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM)  

www.slmm.lk