Colombo, Sri Lanka: There is a controversy over the composition and functioning of the SLMM. This has arisen following the EU ban on the LTTE. It is the position of the LTTE, that the EU member countries have no moral right to continue serving as monitors for their impartiality cannot anymore be vouched.

S.P.Thamilselvan, Leader, Political Wing, LTTE had warned Norway much earlier of the repercussions of an EU ban in case the clamp came down. The European Union too was aware of the probable consequences of such a ban. It is as a result of the ban, the country faces this problem of a stalemate in the peace efforts.

Certain quarters that handle peace efforts thought that they would bring pressure on the LTTE through the EU ban but it has proved wrong. It has in reality boomeranged. The ban has crippled the SLMM and its functions. It is common knowledge that since Mahinda Rajapakse became President, the mutual trust and understanding that existed between the government and LTTE got eroded to a point of no agreement between the parties to even a small alteration in the CFA.

In the Cease Fire Agreement, provision 3.5 relates to the composition of the SLMM. With the LTTE now insisting on the elimination of the EU countries from the SLMM after the ban stance, the relevant provision needs to be amended. Any amendment needs mutual consent by both parties. This has caused a dilemma.

It is the general view that in view of the LTTE’s forewarning about such a consequence, the facilitators ought to have foreseen this difficulty and acted with forethought.

It is unavoidable that the responsibility for the present deadlock must be borne by Norway.

An English translation of the Editorial of Sudar Oli, a Tamil National daily, based in Colombo

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