By Dilrukshi Handunnetti
Government has named a four-member team for preliminary talks with the LTTE in Thailand.
The team for the talks expected to begin in early May will comprise Minister's G. L. Peiris and Milinda Moragoda along with Peace Secretariat Chief Bernard Gunathilleke and Sri Lanka's Bangkok ambassador S. Palihakkara.
The LTTE team headed by chief negotiator Anton Balasingham is expected to include political wing Leader,. S. P. Thamil Chelvam.
Thailand on Friday agreed to host the talks between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, following a formal request from Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minaister Vidar Helgessen who visited Thailand on Friday.
Mr. Helgessen held extensive discussions with his Thai counterpart Surakiarat Sathirathai.
Sources said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe or LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran were not likely to take party in the early stages of the talks.
Mr. Helgessen is expected in Sri Lanka soon after the National New Year to finalise dates for the talks.
Foreign minister Tyronne Fernando, responding to the various reports on Thailand's involvement in the peace initiative said that Southeast Asian country's role in the entire process would be confined to the role of 'host country' and would have no other involvement.
In this backdrop, the government has also moved to upgrade the mission in Oslo by appointing an Ambassador in view of Norway's involvement in the Sri Lankan peace process.
Meanwhile a Foreign Ministry official said former president J. R. Jayewardene's long-time secretary W. M. P. B. Manikdiwela is to be appointed as ambassador to the Netherlands shortly.
By Shelani Perera
Tamil parties being disarmed under the ceasefire agreement between the government and LTTE are in a quandary over the future of their militarily trained cadres with no proper plans for their rehabilitation.
One of the groups this week began relocating its cadres in the south as it felt that retaining the members in the north and eastern parts may pose a security risk.
The Tamil parties began the handing over of arms in the north and east last week under the agreement that their cadres will be provided additional security and a guarantee of safety to carry out their political activities in the north and east.
Although the Government has been able to provide police protection to the party offices, the parties claim that having two police personnel is far from adequate.
The Tamil parties have been armed for more than 12 years after being provided weapons first by the Premadasa administration, then by the Wijetunga regime and later on by the Kumaratunga government.
The EPDP operates in Jaffna mainly in the Kayts island, the PLOTE in Vauvniya and the EPRLF and TELO in Mannar and the east.
The parties had been provided arms for protection against possible LTTE threats and were also co-operating with the security forces.
These parties now say they have taken a risk by surrendering their weapons and making their cadres vulnerable.
PLOTE General Secretary Dharmalingam Sidarthan said despite the party handing over arms they had doubts whether they would get sufficient security.
"We want peace and that is why we handed over the arms . Our offices have been given police protection but there is no guarantee that we will be protected," Mr. Sidharthan said.
"We are also worried about cadres who had carried out anti LTTE work. As a precaution we will bring them to the South at least till the situation is normal. The numbers are few but we have to see to their security," he said.
The PLOTE has around 600 cadres deployed in their offices in the North and East.
Although the Government offered to recruit these cadres to the army, the Tamil parties have turned down because the agreement would put them for service in the south in the north.
He said there were practical difficulties about serving in the south, especially the language problem.
Military spokesman Sarath Karunarathne said members of these Tamil parties had not made applications to join the army so far.
Though the surrendering of weapons goes on The Sunday Times learns there have been no proper record of the weapons which had been handed over to the militant groups as some of the weapons have been declared as 'missing'.
It is alleged that some of the weapons have found their way to underworld groups in the south and have been used in criminal activities.
However the Tamil parties deny the allegation stating that the weapons were given by successive Governments for their security and they has not been misused.
The EPDP, which actively supported the Kumaratunga administration and had initially refused to comply with the call to surrender arms last Monday started handing over its arms in Jaffna.
EPDP parliamentarian Sivathasan said they would hand over arms stage by stage.
" We will gradually disarm ,we have to see the security of the cadres but it is also important that we have peace, it will take some time but the EPDP will hand over its arms,"he said.
Less than a week since the handing of weapons began, the EPRLF has accused the LTTE of kidnapping one of its cadres.
EPRLF chief Varatharaja Perumal said the LTTE had started going after anti LTTE groups and this was a dangerous trend.
He said the EPRLF would hand over arms once the police took over and gave them protection.
"We have about 200 full time cadres, we will keep them there but they will not be able to carry out the normal political work. The cadres generally go out on bicycles so now there are a lot of logistical problems" Mr. Perumal said.
By Chandani Kirinde and Dilrukshi Handunetti in Welikanda
For too long the villagers of Welikanda have been living on the threshold of terrorism. They have spent countless nights hiding in the jungles fearing attacks on their dwellings. Despite the glimmer of hope that has set in with the permanent cease-fire announced between the government and the LTTE, old suspicions continue to run high among the people here.
Their fears are understandable given the fact that they have been the victims of some of the most horrific massacres of civilians that have been blamed on the LTTE. "If something goes wrong this time, we are finished," said P.B.Cyril, a senior villager of Namalgama which has faced several attacks by the terrorists.
The Welikanda area consists of a cluster of villages that are precariously placed in an area which borders the Batticaloa and Ampara districts - hotbeds of LTTE activity in the past two decades. Only open paddy fields separate the villages from the jungles from where the terrorists have launched attacks in the past.
The villages there include Ruwanpitiya, Menikdeniya, Nagastenna, Namalgama, Thoragala and Mutugala. In Ruwanpitiya, two years ago, more than 30 villagers including women and children were killed. The violence has also resulted in many villagers fleeing the area. In Namalgama, of the 135 families that lived there, only 13 remain today.
Somawathie whose own grandson and eight other relatives were killed in the terror attack says she wants a better life at least for her remaining two grandsons. She and the other Welikanda villagers hope terrorism would be a horror of the past from now on. "We have seen so much of bloodshed - of women and children. Now I hope we never see such crime again," she said.
"Peace is only a dream for us. But if it becomes a reality, we will forgo everything else," said Sarath Weerasinghe, a farmer in Namalgama.
Many others share the same views but the memories of the past are fresh in their minds and are hard to forget.
Nadatissaa Wijesinghe recalls the days that they had to hide out in the jungles in the night fearing attacks on them. "So many days we had to leave our cooked pot of rice and flee on hearing of an imminent attack by the LTTE, " he said.
Their main source of income is from farming but that too suffered a great deal during the problems in past years. "There were days we were afraid to go to the fields. Even some of the villagers who went fishing were abducted and never heard of again," he said.
One question that perplexes the villagers is why only militant groups other than the LTTE are handing over their weapons. ""It will be more acceptable if the LTTE hands over weapons too," said Weerasinghe.
For anyone visiting the dry and arid area, it is clear that terrorism is only a part of the problems these people face. The economic ills they face are equally hard. The lack of rain, low paddy prices and the increasing cost of living have made theirs a hand to mouth existence. "Our children can only have one meal a day at most times," said Weerasinghe, a father of two young children. The villagers also face threats from wild elephants which frequently invade the villages.
Most of the villagers are in debt to banks and are unable to payback loans they take to cultivate the fields. "By the time we finish one season, we have spent about Rs20,000 on production and can hardly recover the production cost," a villager said.
They said that although successive governments have promised to buy their paddy at higher rates, they have yet to be paid more than Rs10 a kilo. "It is our custom to invite anyone who visits us for a cup of tea but I am sorry to say we cannot even afford that, " Nandatissa lamented.
But there is some optimism and since the cease-fire some of them have even used the opportunity to travel upto Batticaloa and say they encountered no problems there.
"Now that the train is running upto Valaichchenai, it is easier for us. There is also more traffic on the road. Earlier by 3.00pm in the evening the roads would be deserted," Cyril said.
We left the village as dusk was falling, the villagers were happy that they could stay out in the open at that time and talk to us without fear. Their wish is that the bitter experiences of the past will not return to haunt them once again.
By S. Gurunathan
Housing and Estate Infrastructure Minister Arumugam Thondaman Friday laid the foundation stone for a one hundred housing project at Santhoshapuram, a settlement in the LTTE held Muttur east village in Trincomalee district.
Each house would be constructed at a cost of Rs 110,000/= .
Sathoshapuram is named after Lt.Col.Santhosam who was killed in a battle with the Indian Peace Keeping Force ( IPKF). About 124 families live in Santhosapuram.
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