Curbs on movement of items into Vanni lifted

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, APRIL 5. In a development that holds significance for the ongoing peace process, the Sri Lankan Government has lifted restrictions on a range of items that can be carried across by civilians into LTTE- held areas.

The ban on these items was lifted last month without any fanfare, and may be part of pre-talks confidence building measures that were being discussed between the Government and the LTTE with the assistance of Norway, the official facilitator of the ongoing peace process.

The Defence Secretary, Mr Chandrananda de Silva, instructed the Army Commander, Major-General Lionel Balagalle, in a memo dated March 22, to lift ``with immediate effect'' restrictions on 24 items of everyday use that had so far been banned for the Vanni.

The items include fruit juice packets, soap cubes, gelatin powder, coconut oil, roneo (photocopying) paper, Bristol board, normal gum and agricultural equipment.

The ban on aspirin-based tablets, anti-malaria pills, balms and vitamins is also no longer there. Since last month, civilians have also been permitted to carry across to LTTE- controlled areas foreign and local liquor and cigarettes, all other types of drinks including cordials and soft drinks, rice, cereals, eggs and non-instant noodles. Restrictions on these items had been in existence since peace talks initiated in 1994 by the Kumaratunga Government broke down in April 1995.

In an interview to the state-run Daily News last week, the Foreign Minister, Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar, said the Government would `at any moment' begin implementing a package of `small scale' humanitarian measures to increase the flow of goods into the Vanni.

But the relaxation of the ban on certain items since last month shows that the Government has already begun implementing these measures. Unlike in 1994-95, the easing of the restrictions has not received any official publicity yet. One reason could be that the Government has so far maintained, in the face of the LTTE demand for the removal of economic embargoes on the Vanni as a pre-condition for talks, that it has imposed no restrictions on the flow of goods to the north.

Mr. Kadirgamar has emphasised that the relief measures being contemplated by the Government are ``not a prelude to peace talks, but a supplementary exercise from our side''.

``This will be part of an agreement of understanding between the two parties, but will definitely not be a pre- condition to peace talks. This is a separate exercise,'' he told the Daily News.

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Section  : International
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