Things were moving in the right direction till a string of developments started to put the on-going peace efforts in jeopardy. Fortunately, both sides are still showing signs of patience and are not willing to break the truce. This holds out the promise that peace process has not collapsed and contending parties are not drifting away from negotiating table. Yet peace in Sri Lanka appears in the limbo much to the dismay of those who want the island state to resolve the civil war permanently for progress and prosperity of the nation.

The sinking of a rebel ship by the government forces and political slaying have raised fears of the country slipping back to war amidst threats by the Tamil Tiger that they would not take things kindly. They have warned of "grave consequences" unless the government makes amends to the conditions that ran counter to the peace efforts. The hardening of stance by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) follows a recent international conference on Sri Lanka in Japan when donors and others made substantial commitments for rebuilding the country afflicted by long civil war centering the demand of the Tamil Tigers on an independent state in the northern Jaffna region. The Tigers did not attend the Tokyo meeting although they actively participated in the earlier peace conferences in different countries. The government-LTTE talks were made possible from early last year when Oslo intensified its mediation to resolve the imbroglio through dialogue between the two sides. The conflict has taken huge toll on both sides and once it appeared that the country was bleeding to white as almost a full blown war continued unabated. But the Norwegian efforts, although running ran into occasional trouble, bore fruits as two sides sat to discuss the issue after plenty of ground work preparations.

The first meeting took place in Bangkok mid last year, which was marked by remarkable progress since the LTTE agreed to give a major concession abandoning the demand for a separate sovereign country. The government side also reciprocated by taking series of conciliatory measures and all these made things bright, giving the impression that a permanent settlement may not be difficult despite the fact that the task in hand was quite complex and any solution was difficult. The Tigers boycotted the Tokyo meeting protesting government failures to accept a demand that Tigers should have charge of provincial administration in their region. However, prime minister Ranil Wickramsinghe announced readiness to accept the main part of the demand which removed fears of continued boycott of the talks. But then things turned for the bad unexpectedly delivering a body blow to the peace process.

Meanwhile, the rivalry between president Chandrika Kumaratunga and prime minister Ranil Wickramsinghe continued to mar the peace process. Peoples Alliance(PA) of the president sits in the opposition in parliament in a strange system of "co-habitation" government in which the president and the prime minister come from rival political platforms. The prime minister runs the government based on the majority consent in parliament but the presidency also enjoys certain important powers like dissolving the house and the government. Chandrika is against giving too much concessions to the Tigers and her problems with the prime minister on other issues as well have caused uneasiness in the country. A possibility is stalking that the nation may witness fresh elections.

This fragile president-premier relationship is having an adverse impact on the dialogue with rebels. Analysts feel that earlier Chandrika's government failed to make much headway in peace efforts with the rebels although two sides did agree on cease fire and this could be one of the main reasons why she may not relish a success in the area by rival political platform's government. The prime minister says they won last parliament polls with a pro-peace position and the government wants to carry forward with this mandate. It is also not averse to new parliamentary elections. The president, under the constitution, remains at the helm for six year term regardless of the outcome of the polls for legislature.

The problems with the president notwithstanding, the prime minister is continuing efforts to resolve the conflict with the rebels. But latest developments have come as grave negation of the positive environment that was created following painstaking efforts. Sri Lankan government and the rebels will be commended if they ignore the new pin pricks, stressing more to consolidate the gains towards peace which has been achieved after great efforts. The road to peace in the country is very bumpy and is strewn with many complexities, which, however, is not unusual. What is required is patience and further spirit of accommodation to turn the effort into success. Cessation of hostilities and the truce need to be maintained at all cost. The "Co-habitation" government also needs to work in cohesion in this direction since larger interest for the nation and people must get precedence over partisan or individual political rivalries. While no immediate resumption of hostilities is on the cards, slipping back to the war

will be the most unfortunate

development that the state can ill afford.

The positive sign is that the Tamil Tigers have expressed their desire to revive the talks despite certain conditional setback in gaining some more powers for them. They have not spoken about resumption of hostilities although it is clear that they are seeking to extract more concessions. Their London-based chief negotiator in the peace talks Anton Balasingham had a meeting with Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim when the two discussed the impasse. Prime minister Ranil Wickramsinghe visited London for talks with British prime minister Tony Blair on the Lankan peace process. The government is keen to revive the talks although president Kumaratunga feels that the prime minister should not show much willingness to go back to dialogue unless the Tigers soften their stance. She also believes that the Tigers would soon resort to their aggressive designs with attacks on Lankan interests.

This will be unwise to think that the obstacles will be removed easily but contacts and efforts are expected to reduce the chances of returning to war. The need of the hour is not to let the opportunities created after so much of assiduously nurtured efforts go awry and all contending parties must show sagacity for greater interests.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury is a senior journalist.