On 7 February an incident on a Sea Tiger vessel near the Delft islands resulted in the tragic loss of three lives

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Country/entity: Sri Lanka
Region: Asia and Pacific
Agreement name: On 7 February an incident on a Sea Tiger vessel near the Delft islands resulted in the tragic loss of three lives
Date: 7 Feb 2003
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/intrastate conflict
Sri Lankan Civil War (1983 - 2009)
The roots of the Sri Lanka conflict lay in British colonial policy which controlled the island from 1802 until 1948. During the early 1800s, the British brought Tamils from mainland India to work on the various plantations for tea, coffee and rubber, changing Sri Lanka's the demographic make-up. Upon independence, Sinhalese nationalism dominated the political sphere and introduced discriminatory policies against the Tamil minority straining relations and sparking protests. Armed Tamil resistance first came in the form of assassinations of moderate Tamils and opposition politicians in the mid-1970s. However, it was the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) attack on checkpoint Four Four Bravo, which marked the turning point, sparking pogroms against Tamils in Sinhalese majority areas. This incident, known as Black July, is widely considered to the beginning of the civil war.

The first round of peace talks were backed by India, which had deployed the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in 1987, and led to the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. The Accord was successful in persuading the majority of insurgency groups to lay down arms. However, the strongest Tamil insurgency group, the LTTE, was not party to the talks and refused to disarm, sparking direct conflict between the IPKF and the LTTE until IPKF withdrawal 1990. Following the withdrawal, the LTTE consolidated their power in the North and East sparking another intense and bloody war with the central government that lasted until 2002 when another peace process was launched under the auspices of Norwegian negotiators. The second round of peace talks, however, only continued until April 2003 and in March 2004, a large faction of LTTE cadres split from the main organization damaging LTTE unity. The LTTE were defeated militarily by a large-scale government assault in 2009, however, the conditions for peace remain uncertain.
Stage: Pre-negotiation/process
Conflict nature: Government/territory
Peace process: Sri Lanka LTTE 2002 onward process
Parties: Government of Sri Lanka; Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Third parties: Royal Government of Norway
Description: Short statement detailing confidence building measure of allowing the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission inspect potentially offending ships belonging to the Sea Tigers. Statement ends by affirming that the process will continue as planned.

Agreement document: LK_030207_On 7 February an incident on a Sea Tiger vessel near the Delft islands resulted in the tragic loss of three lives.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF

Groups

Children/youth: No specific mention.
Disabled persons: No specific mention.
Elderly/age: No specific mention.
Migrant workers: No specific mention.
Racial/ethnic/national group: No specific mention.
Religious groups: No specific mention.
Indigenous people: No specific mention.
Other groups: No specific mention.
Refugees/displaced persons: No specific mention.
Social class: No specific mention.

Gender

Women, girls and gender: No specific mention.
Men and boys: No specific mention.
LGBTI: No specific mention.
Family: No specific mention.

State definition

Nature of state (general): No specific mention.
State configuration: No specific mention.
Self determination: No specific mention.
Referendum: No specific mention.
State symbols: No specific mention.
Independence/secession: No specific mention.
Accession/unification: No specific mention.
Border delimitation: No specific mention.
Cross-border provision: No specific mention.

Governance

Political institutions (new or reformed): No specific mention.
Elections: No specific mention.
Electoral commission: No specific mention.
Political parties reform: No specific mention.
Civil society: No specific mention.
Traditional/religious leaders: No specific mention.
Public administration: No specific mention.
Constitution: No specific mention.

Power sharing

Political power sharing: No specific mention.
Territorial power sharing: No specific mention.
Economic power sharing: No specific mention.
Military power sharing: No specific mention.

Human rights and equality

Human rights/RoL general: No specific mention.
Bill of rights/similar: No specific mention.
Treaty incorporation: No specific mention.
Civil and political rights: No specific mention.
Socio-economic rights: No specific mention.

Rights related issues

Citizenship: No specific mention.
Democracy: No specific mention.
Detention procedures: No specific mention.
Media and communication: No specific mention.
Mobility/access: No specific mention.
Protection measures: No specific mention.
Other: No specific mention.

Rights institutions

NHRI: No specific mention.
Regional or international human rights institutions: No specific mention.

Justice sector reform

Criminal justice and emergency law: No specific mention.
State of emergency provisions: No specific mention.
Judiciary and courts: No specific mention.
Prisons and detention: No specific mention.
Traditional Laws: No specific mention.

Socio-economic reconstruction

Development or socio-economic reconstruction: No specific mention.
National economic plan: No specific mention.
Natural resources: No specific mention.
International funds: No specific mention.
Business: No specific mention.
Taxation: No specific mention.
Banks: No specific mention.

Land, property and environment

Land reform/rights: No specific mention.
Pastoralist/nomadism rights: No specific mention.
Cultural heritage: No specific mention.
Environment: No specific mention.
Water or riparian rights or access: No specific mention.

Security sector

Security Guarantees: Page 1, The situation leading up to the incident had been discussed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 6 February. On the evening of the same day, the parties agreed on a procedure to resolve the matter by asking the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to conduct an inspection of the vessels involved to clarify the situation. Due to the apparent communication failure between the LTTE naval commander and the cadres on board one vessel, the crew members were not informed of the agreed procedure, and the cadres set fire to the vessel and took their own lives.

In cooperation with the SLMM, the parties will review existing procedures in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Ceasefire: No specific mention.
Police: No specific mention.
Armed forces: No specific mention.
DDR: No specific mention.
Intelligence services: No specific mention.
Parastatal/rebel and opposition group forces: No specific mention.
Withdrawal of foreign forces: No specific mention.
Corruption: No specific mention.
Crime/organised crime: No specific mention.
Drugs: No specific mention.
Terrorism: No specific mention.

Transitional justice

Transitional justice general: No specific mention.
Amnesty/pardon: No specific mention.
Courts: No specific mention.
Mechanism: No specific mention.
Prisoner release: No specific mention.
Vetting: No specific mention.
Victims: No specific mention.
Missing persons: No specific mention.
Reparations: No specific mention.
Reconciliation: No specific mention.

Implementation

UN signatory: No specific mention.
Other international signatory: No specific mention.
Referendum for agreement: No specific mention.
International mission/force/similar: Page 1, The situation leading up to the incident had been discussed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 6 February. On the evening of the same day, the parties agreed on a procedure to resolve the matter by asking the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to conduct an inspection of the vessels involved to clarify the situation. Due to the apparent communication failure between the LTTE naval commander and the cadres on board one vessel, the crew members were not informed of the agreed procedure, and the cadres set fire to the vessel and took their own lives.

In cooperation with the SLMM, the parties will review existing procedures in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Enforcement mechanism: No specific mention.
Related cases: No specific mention.
Source: Archived hard copy originally sourced from: http://www.peaceinsrilanka.org/insidepages/Pressrelease/RNG/PV/RNEberlin07Feb03P...

PRESS RELEASE - ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY, BERLIN

07 February 2003

On 7 February an incident on a Sea Tiger vessel near the Delft islands resulted in the tragic loss of three lives.

The situation leading up to the incident had been discussed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 6 February.

On the evening of the same day, the parties agreed on a procedure to resolve the matter by asking the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to conduct an inspection of the vessels involved to clarify the situation.

Due to an apparent communication failure between the LTTE naval commander and the cadres on board one vessel, the crew members were not informed of the agreed procedure, and the cadres setfire to the vessel and took their own lives.

In cooperation with the SLMM, the parties will review existing procedures in order ta avoid similar incidents in the future.

The ongoing session of peace talks will continue as scheduled