June 22, 2003 Known for one of the world's finest teas, Ceylon, Sri Lanka is an island country that lies to the southeast of India. Perched on the northernmost tip of the country is the town of Jaffna. It is a town of rubble where house after house after house, with innumerable bullet holes in their fences, stand as harrowing symbols of abandoned hopes of reconstruction. The country has long been plagued by the ethnic feud between the Buddhist Sinhalese and the Hindu Tamils, which account for 80 percent and 10 percent of the population, respectively. Since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a group of Tamil separatists, launched an insurgency about 20 years ago, more than 60,000 people have been killed in bloody conflicts in northeastern Sri Lanka and terrorist bomb attacks in and around the capital, Colombo. But the country may finally be moving toward peace. The Tamil Tigers, under pressure from the escalating war on terror in the post-911 world, and the government, increasingly weary of civil war due to a recession, signed a ceasefire agreement in February 2002 at the mediation of Norway. Internally displaced 800,000 citizens have started returning to their homes. There is lingering doubt, however, about the sustainability of the ceasefire. Seven rounds of peace talks have taken place between the government and the LTTE since the truce was agreed upon. Japan has sent Yasushi Akashi, former United Nations undersecretary general, as an envoy to the talks in line with its "new diplomatic strategy" concerning support for conflict areas, which stresses deeper involvement in the peace process. Japan hopes that Akashi's participation in the talks paves the way for the success of an international conference on reconstruction assistance for Sri Lanka to be held in Tokyo in June under its sponsorship. The Tamil Tigers, however, have declared it will not participate in the Tokyo conference, saying they are not happy with the peace negotiations. A female Tamil Tiger soldier I met in the LTTE-controlled area said, "We have no grudge against ordinary Sinhalese, but we want freedom for Tamils. We are as strong as the government militarily and ready to fight another war if the peace talks break down." While the talks continue, permanent peace for Sri Lanka seems a long way off. (Published in SUNDAY MAINICHI, June 22, 2003 issue)