Sri Lanka: War looms after Colombo bombing
ON 25 APRIL a suicide bomber attacked the car in which the top Sri
Lankan army commander was travelling. Eight people were killed and the
commander, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, was seriously injured.
The bomber, assumed to be from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), had penetrated deep into the army headquarters complex.
This attack looks like a clear declaration of war. "This is the
direct result of the failure of either side in the peace negotiations to
implement the agreements made in Geneva on 21 February.
"This must be a turning point now in the direction of
war," said Siritunga Jayasuriya of the United Socialist Party (CWI,
Sri Lanka).
"There is a panic in the city. Workers are leaving their
offices and factories and making for home. The measures to be taken by
the government will become clear, but it will probably include a banning
of all public assemblies, including the May Day rallies traditionally
organised by all parties in Sri Lanka," added Siri.
Senan of the Socialist Party, England and Wales, explains the
background.
The LTTE had already announced that they will not be attending the
planned peace talks in Geneva. They had been calling more and more
loudly for the government to stop the killings of Tamils in the country,
especially the gruesome attacks in the East around Trincomalee. Finally
they rejected sitting at the same table as Sri Lankan government
officials.
The talks were aimed at breaking the log-jam in negotiations between
the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government that has existed since a
ceasefire was signed more than four years ago. A resumption of the civil
war in Sri Lanka, which started in 1983, would be a disaster for all
workers and poor people of Sri Lanka – Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala alike.
Last week was the bloodiest since the ceasefire was agreed. More than
80 people have been killed in the last two weeks alone. According to the
Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights, at least 62 Tamils have been
killed in the north east of the island in the past two months.
Despite all these killings the Rajapakse government of Sri Lanka has
not made any real attempt to continue the peace negotiations. In fact
their 2005 presidential election promise was to abandon the 2002 peace
agreement and start new peace talks, which the LTTE has vehemently
opposed.
Due to the pressure from Sinhala communal forces such as the People’s
Liberation Front (JVP) and the Buddhist party (JHU), the government
wanted to discontinue the peace talks. But international pressure from
the imperialist powers to get the talks re-established, expressed by the
Norwegian mediators, forced the government to make efforts towards new
negotiations.
This led to the JVP pulling away from the government alliance,
including standing separately in the recent local elections. Now the Sri
Lankan newspaper, Lankadeepa, has reported that President Rajapakse is
going to ask the JVP to join the government again.
Economy
WHEN THE LTTE announced its refusal to go to the Geneva talks, the
Colombo Stock Market all-share index fell by 98 points, losing more then
$250 million dollars in value. Also, big fuel price rises have been
announced including kerosene, which is vital to millions of working and
poor people, by a massive 25%. Consequently, fare rises on public
transport went up and other huge price rises have already been
announced. Fertiliser rocketed from 350 rupees a 50 kg. bag to 1,250
rupees! One of the big promises of Rajapakse in the election was to keep
this at 350 rupees.
In the event of war being back on the agenda, we can expect the
government to announce yet more harsh price rises to support war
expenditure.
Despite the government of Sri Lanka’s unwillingness to continue the
talks and its hostility towards the LTTE, the US administration
announced its support of the Sri Lankan government and called on the
LTTE to "cease these violent attacks, to return to the cease-fire
implementation talks and to engage constructively in the search for a
political solution."
They also commend the "continued restraint of the government in
the face of these provocations."
"Now, in the light of today’s events, we can expect even less
"restraint" from the Sri Lankan government," says Siri.
"As a party, the USP will have to step up its demands. Stop
hostilities, end the killings whether from the Sri Lankan Army side,
from the paramilitaries or from the LTTE side.
"We will do our utmost to pursue the demands against war and
against war spending and for an immediate increase in salaries for all
workers, including in the private sector. We cannot continue to live
this nightmare!"
