Government response to the LTTE claims of rights to the sea

[May 16, 2006 - 9.00 GMT]

The Peace Secretariat yesterday responding to the LTTE’s claims of rights to the sea, said the LTTE’s perception of the CFA was clearly flawed and that “the assertion of sovereign rights, jurisdiction or any form of sovereign control over maritime zones is an essential attribute of a State and accordingly such rights can be asserted only by sovereign States under International Law or an entity to which states have ceded such power.”

In a statement the Peace Secretariat said, “A unilateral assertion by an entity of attributes of statehood does not confer on such entity any legal status.”

[Full statement]

A news report on Tamilnet of 12th May 2006 under the heading, ‘SLMM has no mandate to rule on Tamil sovereign rights’ quotes the Head of LTTE’s Political Wing S. P. Thamilchelvan, as having stated, "We entered into the Peace Process based on the status quo achieved in the battlefield in our country. Nobody has the right to pass judgment on the sovereign rights of our access to the adjacent sea and airspace of our homeland." He further adds that the “ceasefire and the entire peace process between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is a process based on parity of status and military power balance”.

With regard to the claim of sovereignty over the sea, the assertion of sovereign rights, jurisdiction or any form of sovereign control over maritime zones is an essential attribute of a State and accordingly such rights can be asserted only by sovereign States under International Law or an entity to which states have ceded such power. A unilateral assertion by an entity of attributes of statehood does not confer on such entity any legal status.

The LTTE’s perception of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) is also clearly flawed. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which is the sole authority to make rulings on the CFA, made a categorical ruling following the Sea Tigers attack on ‘Pearl Cruiser’, that, “it’s very clear that the Sea Tigers have no rights at sea – we have ruled it here in this mission that this is a government-controlled area, because non-state actors cannot control sea and open waters, so this is a very, very serious ceasefire violation”. The mere fact that the LTTE has a de facto naval capability, does not give it any legitimacy whether under international law or under the Sri Lankan Constitution. Similar naval capacities which could be an internationally destabilizing element of other sub-state entities have never been recognized by the international community.

As regards LTTE’s position that the CFA is premised on the notion of parity of status and military balance of power, it must be conceded that any negotiations should be governed by mutual-respect, even if it is between a State and a non-State actor. The GoSL has applied that principle in all high-level negotiations with the LTTE, facilitated by Norway, and will continue to do so. But, it is clearly untenable to extend that principle of negotiations to apply to relations between a sovereign State and a non-State actor.


 

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Last Updated Date: May  16, 2006 -9.00 GMT