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Building the Tamil Eelam State: emerging state institutions and forms of governance in LTTE-controlled areas in Sri Lanka

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 27; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01436590600850434

1360-2241

Kristian Stokke,

Migration, Refugees, and Integration

Abstract Sri Lanka's civil war has created a political – territorial division between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (ltte), where ltte is engaged in a process of state building within the areas they control. The article examines this state formation with an emphasis on the functions and forms of governance that are embedded in the new state institutions. It is observed that the emerging state formation has a strong focus on external and internal security, with an additional emphasis on social welfare and economic development. In terms of governance, the ltte state apparatus is marked by authoritarian centralisation with few formal mechanisms for democratic representation, but there are also partnership arrangements and institutional experiments that may foster more democratic forms of representation and governance. Hence, resolving the security problem in tandem with political transformations towards democratic governance remain prime challenges for peace building in northeast Sri Lanka. Notes This research project has been supported by the Norwegian Research Council. The fieldwork in Kilinochchi was facilitated by the ltte Peace Secretariat. I am deeply grateful to the Secretary General, S Puleedevan, and to Mr Yarlavan for their invaluable assistance. In Oslo Yogarajah Balasingham has been very helpful in arranging meetings with visiting delegations from northeast Sri Lanka. I am also grateful to Professor N Shanmugaratnam and the participants in a Nordic Workshop on 'War and Peace in Sri Lanka' (Uppsala University, 26 – 27 January 2006) for valuable comments on an earlier draft. Needless to say, the interpretations and arguments contained in this article remain my sole responsibility. 1 D Tutu, 'Foreword', in A Sachs, The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter, London: Paladin, 2000, pp vii – ix. 2 S Nadarajah & D Sriskandarajah, 'Liberation struggle or terrorism? The politics of naming the ltte', Third World Quarterly, 26 (1), 2005, pp 87 – 100. 3 Qualitative interviews were conducted in Kilinochchi in August 2005 with the leadership of the ltte Peace Secretariat, the ltte Planning and Development Secretariat (pds), the Secretariat for Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs in the North and East (sihrn), the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (tro), the Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (nesohr), the Tamil Eelam Police, the ltte Special Task Force for Tsunami-affected areas, and The Economic Consultancy House (tech). Meetings and interviews have also been held in Oslo (2003 – 05) with representatives from ltte's political wing (Jaffna Branch), the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, sihrn, tro and nesohr. 4 A Balasingham, War and Peace: Armed Struggle and Peace Efforts of Liberation Tigers, Mitcham, UK: Fairmax, 2004; and MRN Swamy, Tigers of Lanka: From Boys to Guerrillas, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa, 2003. 5 The present peace process follows after four failed attempts at conflict resolution through negotiated settlements: the Thimpu talks in 1985, the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987, the Premadasa/ltte talks in 1989 – 90 and the Bandaranaike/ltte talks in 1994 – 95. Balasingham, War and Peace; and jbic, Conflict and Development: Roles of jbic. Development Assistance Strategy for Peace Building and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka, Tokyo: Japan Bank for International Cooperation, 2003. 6 J Uyangoda & M Perera (eds), Sri Lanka's Peace Process 2002: Critical Perspectives, Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 2003. 7 The first Eelam war broke out after the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983 and ended with the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord in July 1987. The second Eelam war started after the departure of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force in 1989 and the failed peace talks with the government of President Premadasa in 1989 – 90 and lasted until the peace negotiations with the government of President Kumaratunga in 1994 – 95. The third Eelam war ensued shortly after the breakdown of the peace negotiations in April 1995 and lasted until the informal ceasefire agreement of December 2001. This ceasefire was later formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding on 21 February 2001 and a formal Ceasefire Agreement on 22 February 2002. 8 To acknowledge the existence of a dual state structure and to examine ltte as a political actor that is involved in a state-building process is highly controversial in Sri Lanka. The World Bank's country representative to Sri Lanka, Peter Harrold, came in for heavy criticism in March 2005 for recognising the existence of an unofficial ltte state. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Harrold stated that: 'Given the fact that there is an officially recognized ltte-controlled area, a kind of unofficial state, and since it is a party to the ceasefire agreement with the Government, the ltte has the status of a legitimate stakeholder'. Sunday Times, 6 March 2005, at http://www.sundaytimes.lk/050306/index.html. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (jvp) demanded that the statement be withdrawn or the Bank should remove Harrold from his position as he had 'overstepped his duties' and made a statement that 'undermines sovereignty of Sri Lanka and challenges the authority of the state'. 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