February 2002 was the month of a miracle. A war that had seemed unstoppable was suddenly halted with the signing of the Norwegian-facilitated Ceasefire Agreement by the government and LTTE. The security checkpoints covering the country, particularly the northeast, were dismantled. Thousands of sightseers from the south flocked into previously out-of-bound regions, and thousands more flooded southwards to transact business in Colombo. But by January 2006, the situation had threatened to reverse itself completely, as violence again turned the northeast into a virtual battleground. This was the context in which the Geneva talks of 22-23 February 2006 took place.
When the media conference at the conclusion of the two-day Geneva session was delayed for three hours, speculation was rife that the government and LTTE had been unable to reach an agreement. Norwegian facilitator Erik Solheim had already warned of the need not to ratchet up expectations, because trust was low between the new team of government negotiators and the LTTE.
Indeed, the odds were clearly stacked against success. Government and LTTE representatives had not met in direct talks for three years. The Colombo delegation was new to peace talks; in the run-up to Geneva, its ministerial component had undergone a crash-course in negotiations. The lack of trust was not simply that of strangers, but of two sides who had directly or indirectly contributed to the loss of over 150 lives in the previous two months. Both showed up to the talks with extremely large support teams, attempting to bolster their individual strengths.
But when the two delegations, accompanied by the Norwegian facilitators, eventually arrived at the media session, the delay turned out to have been for a positive reason: to secure agreement. Best of all, they had agreed to meet again within two months, with the aim of reviewing and progressing the peace process at that time. In addition, the two sides had agreed to respect and uphold the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), and to ensure a cessation of the violence that had continuously eroded its credibility over the previous four years.