Analysis: Sri Lanka stalemate

By Frances Harrison BBC correspondent in Colombo

The Tigers have been fighting for nearly two decades

There is growing concern in Sri Lanka that the country's peace process has been stagnating since the Tamil Tigers pulled out of peace talks in April.

Two months have passed since the international donor community pledged an unprecedented $4.5 billion for rebuilding Sri Lanka.

The biggest donor, Japan, has started talking about the need for progress in the peace process if that aid money is to be disbursed.

But, both sides are now focusing on the issue of an interim administration to the exclusion of anything else.

Tamil Tiger rebels say they will not resume peace talks with the Sri Lankan government until there is agreement on an interim administration for the north-east.

Middle ground

The Tigers are soon to hold a meeting of experts in Europe to devise a response to proposals made by the government in July for such an administration.

It seems the initial euphoria about the peace process has been replaced by scepticism and inertia

The rebels then expect a period of negotiation to find some middle ground between the two sides.

The Tigers say while they have not rejected the government's proposal outright they are unhappy that the body envisaged would have no powers over land, revenue, security or the police.

They feel this gives them an administration with no clout at all.

This discussion on the shape of the interim administration is not expected to include the head of the rebel negotiating team, Anton Balasingham, because his doctors are said to have advised him against excessive travel on health grounds.

He will only enter the process again if formal peace talks resume.

Suspicions

There is also a growing sense of mistrust on the rebel side with many of the government officials that they have been dealing with over the past year and a half.

They are especially unhappy with the Peace Secretariat in Colombo, which critics say lacks Tamil staff and has achieved little.

There is also concern on the Tiger side about the government's decision to sanction the presence of de-miners in the north, some of whom the rebels believe are former Indian peacekeeping soldiers who fought against the Tigers in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s.

For their part the government are concerned about a recent spate of assassinations of opponents of the Tigers and the rebels' refusal to move a camp the truce monitors say violates the ceasefire agreement.

It seems the initial euphoria about the peace process has been replaced by scepticism and inertia.

Some aid workers in Jaffna even say it is harder to get project funds now than during the war.