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SRI LANKA PROJECT QUARTERLY REPORT

June to September 2004

A. General Introduction of Sri Lanka Development (Political and Project). This period, sadly, saw no significant movement in the peace process, where there have been no talks between the Government and the LTTE at a ministerial level for more than a year now. Contacts between both parties still persist at a military and administrative level and although there have been reports to the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) of ceasefire violations by both sides, neither the Government nor the LTTE have sought to use any such alleged or actual violations as a reason for terminating the Memorandum of Understanding that brought about the ceasefire.

The impact of this 'peace limbo' has been more noticed in the North and East of the country, particularly in the East, where some observers believe the LTTE has been destabilized since the internal split within the LTTE which began in March of this year. Although the breakaway Karuna faction apparently admitted defeat, a low level conflict between both groups has persisted with allegations that the destabilising influence of the remaining Karuna cadres are being assisted by the Sri Lankan Army. The national polity continues on its unstable and uncertain path with a fragile coalition and a nominal parliamentary majority.

By the beginning of this period the NP field teams had been in the field for six months, though in all field sites except for Jaffna, field offices have been established for a shorter time. As a result, the principal emphasis of the work of the four field teams has been establishing their presence in their host communities to foster mutual understanding. It is

expected that such time consuming and extensive groundwork will enable teams to react rapidly in emergencies as well as to provide solid and focused support for individuals and groups in communities threatened by violence and

struggling to make their own contribution to a just peace. This policy was shown to be effective in April in Mutur and Valaichchenai when the teams were able to make a significant impact on the tense local situation after such a short time in the field. Everywhere this embedding of teams in their communities continues.

B. Mandate and Deployment of the Teams

Mandate: Reduce violence to increase the safety of civilians in Sri Lanka

so they can contribute to a lasting peace with justice (as formulated in

Mexico 2004). (This is the mandate in its revised version as decided by the

Program Committee at the IGC meeting in Mexico. )

Team placement:

Batticaloa: By the end of this reporting period Karen Ayasse (Germany) Sreeram Chaulia (India), Atif Hameed (Pakistan), Charles Otieno (Kenya), Angela Pinchero (Canada), and Rita Webb (USA) were based here on the East

Coast of the island, where more than 90% of the population is Tamil. Linda Sartor (USA), a former Field Team Member, was also based here as a temporary support until the end of October. The field site is in Valaichchennai, an hour North of Batticaloa town. This area has, since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding that brought about the current ceasefire, suffered, after Mutur, the most casualties arising from violence and tension arising from Muslim - Tamil clashes. The team's activities have been mainly focussed on protection and accompaniment for civilians under threat from harassment by different ethnic groups, the security forces and the LTTE. In addition the team's time has been taken up with prevention of and protection from under age recruitment. The team has also been working with Muslim and Tamil community groups in ethnically segregated areas to provide protection and general peacebuilding support. The team is the only foreign presence in the area under threat.Jaffna: Susan Granada (Philippines) and Midori Oshima (Japan) are based in NP's field site in the Jaffna peninsula, at the northernmost tip of the island. Government forces took most of the peninsula from the LTTE in 1996. The peninsula has a population which is almost 100% Tamil, many of whom have been displaced by virtue of the Government converting about a third of the land under their control into military areas, known as High Security Zones. Tensions in the area arise from civilian resentment at the military presence, LTTE taxes on businesses and imports into the area as well as from allegations of forced recruitment by the LTTE. Midori and Susan will be working with other civil society groups and individuals to strengthen their capacity to reduce these tensions.

Matara: Frank Anim-Appiah (Ghana) and Kathy Orowvigho (Nigeria) are based in this area. The district is on the southern coast of the island and has a majority Sinhalese population, though there are significant pockets of Muslims, often in business, and Indian Tamils, who work mainly on tea and rubber estates in the area. The main tensions here arise from disputes between the Government and Opposition parties, which are mainly Sinhala, though there are also occasional eruptions of violence from ethnic disputes as well. The team here have established a wide range of contacts in the area and, at the moment, are focussing principally on establishing Youth Peace Clubs in the Matara and neighbouring Galle Districts Trincomalee: Thomas Brinson (USA), Rita Cruz (Portugal) and Soraia Makhamra (Brazil/Palestine) are based in this Eastern coastal District whose ethnic mix is divided almost equally between Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils.

Their field site is in Mutur Town on the southern edge of Trincomalee Bay. The Mutur area has experienced the highest number of deaths through violence since the start of the ceasefire in December 2001. The tensions have arisen

from disputes between Muslim and Tamil communities in the area. The team provide protection to communities under threat and to work with community leaders seeking to reduce tension. Since April this team, like the Valaichchenai team, also been involved in child protection issues stemming from the threat of recruitment by the LTTE. And like in Valaichchenai, NP's field team will be the only foreign presence in the area under threat.

Appendix

Links to Internet that have information of current situation:

1. Official Sri Lankan and LTTE Sources

Sri Lankan government: http://www.priu.gov.lk/ and Official webpage of the Sri Lankan Government's Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) http://www.peaceinsrilanka.org/

Tamil Eelam Homepage: http://www.eelam.com/

2. Sri Lankan NGO and Media Sources Centre for Policy Alternatives: www.cpalanka.org

Digest of News Links at Lanka Academic Network: http://www.lacnet.org/slnews/index.html

Google news: http://www.google.com/alerts?q=&hl=en .

http://www.info.lk/slnews/

http://www.lankapage.com/

LAcNet News (also to be found going to the Digest of News Links of Lacnet listed above): http://www.lacnet.org/slnet/ .

National Peace Council of Sri Lanka : www.peace-srilanka.org , Mailing List order at peace2@sri.lanka.net

People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL):

www.lankaworld.com/paffrel

Sarvodaya : www.sarvodaya.org . They also offer a mailing list.

Social Issues : http://www.infolanka.com/org/srilanka/issues.html

Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka : http://www.spur.asn.au/

Sri Lanka Page : http://www.lankapage.com/ (internet paper, Sinhalese-oriented)

Tamilnet: http://www.tamilnet.com/

The Island: http://www.island.lk/ (newspaper)

University Teachers for Human rights (Jaffna): http://www.uthr.org/

3. Articles and pages of international NGOs on Sri Lanka

Amnesty International: http://web.amnesty.org/

Bastian, Sunil, The Failure of State Formation, Identity Conflict and Civil

Society Responses - The Case of Sri Lanka, University of Bradford, Centre for Conflict Resolution Working Paper 2, Bradford August 2002, Order at Bradford University, Department of Peace Studies,

http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/peace/pubs/pubs.htm

Coy, Patrick G., "What's A Third Party To do? Nonviolent Protective

Accompaniment in Sri Lanka with Peace Brigades International". Paper

presented at the 35th Annual Convention of the International Studies

Association Washington D.C., March 28-April 1, 1999

European Centre for Conflict Prevention , The Peace Process in Sri Lanka.

The need to involve civil society actors, A seminar organised by the

European Centre for Conflict Prevention, November 13,2002,

http://www.conflict-prevention.net/

Harris, Simon, Lewer, Nick, Operationalising Peacebuilding and Conflic

Redcution. Case Study: Oxfam in Sri lanka, University of Bradford, Centre

for Conflict Resolution Working Paper 11, Bradford August 2002, Order at