TALKING PEACE: Wickremesinghe (right) with Norwegian Ambassador Jon Westborg

For the first time in nine years on February 22, a Sri Lankan leader was in Vavuniya, a rice-growing town in the arid northern Wanni region bordering Tamil Tiger rebel territory. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was welcomed by Tamil residents there with traditional gifts of sandalwood "pottu" on his forehead, a rich brocade shawl and rice. He gazed at a white flag marking the half-way point of a 500-m no-man's land between the last military frontier post at Omanthai and rebel-controlled tracts. Wickremesinghe was there to formalise a landmark peace deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), clinched by Norway after much bargaining with both sides. That evening, the state TV showed rare shots of a smiling ltte supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran signing the pact at an undisclosed location. Only seven months ago, he had masterminded the attack on the nation's only international airport and the adjoining air force base.

To be supervised by monitors from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, the truce will see an end to all military offensives in the north and east, the region claimed by the LTTE as a separate state for the island's 2.5 million minority Tamils. On its part, the LTTE will halt its attacks on economic and civilian targets and its trademark assassinations using Black Tiger suicide bombers. The truce also enjoins on both sides to desist from hostile acts against civilians. Wickremesinghe described the deal as "a first step towards peace" in a country where over 60,000 people have been killed since 1972. Addressing government troops in Vavuniya, he said, "I believe we can have peace, but I have no illusion that it is going to be easy."

Resistance was to come from unexpected quarters. Back in the capital Colombo the same day, President Chandrika Kumaratunga was already drawing a different battle line-on the political front. She accused Wickremesinghe of violating the Constitution for having shown her the deed a day after the LTTE chief had signed it.

THE APPEASED: Prabhakaran

Kumaratunga warned him that she had authority on "all matters of war". The two face each other as leaders of rival political parties heading the nation's executive and the legislature. Kumaratunga, who saw her own bid to get Norway's help in mediating fail last year, was also critical of Wickremesinghe's alleged failure to inform the Cabinet and Parliament of the MoU. The prime minister said she was briefed throughout the process and it was only because Prabhakaran had unexpectedly signed on February 22 that he had hurried to close the deal before the cease-fire ended four days later. At a rally, she hit back saying that as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, she could scuttle the truce with a single order. She, however, denied the statement later.

The agreement portends trouble for the island's coalition Government, despite support from the world community which has hailed it as a watershed in the rocky peace process. The radical Marxist JVP (People's Liberation Front) and the hardline nationalist su (Sinhalese Heritage) parties are opposed to the peace pact.

For Wickremesinghe's Government, fighting is not a viable option. It has inherited an empty treasury and an economy that is in recession. The country is also facing a major debt servicing problem. For the Tigers, the compulsions of getting to the peace table are related to the September 11 attacks and the international crackdown on terrorism. The LTTE has been branded a terrorist outfit in the US since October 1997 while Britain, Canada and Australia either banned the Tigers or declared them terrorists in February 2001.

No one is underwriting peace in Sri Lanka, but Wickremesinghe says he is banking on a "safety net of world opinion" if his tightrope act is ruined by either a belligerent President or warring rebels.