SRI LANKA: Government says it received an offer of talks with Tamil Tiger rebels/rebels say peace talks are impossible

Record ID: 349288

  • Title: SRI LANKA: Government says it received an offer of talks with Tamil Tiger rebels/rebels say peace talks are impossible
  • Date: 13th August 2006
  • Summary: (BN10) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AUGUST 13, 2006) (REUTERS) NEWS BRIEFING; JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALITHA KOHONA, HEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT PEACE SECRETARIAT, SAYING: "I was approached by the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) on Friday. No we haven't heard anything...on behalf of the government, a statement was made. The government is committed to resuming talks a
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABT4C2CRGO7ZG63BZCALBWHDCR
  • Story Text: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Sunday (August 13, 2006) that peace talks with the government were impossible while the two sides remained locked in the worst fighting since a 2002 truce.
    The government had said it received a message from the Tigers through ceasefire monitors on Friday (August 11), hours before clashes erupted on the northern Jaffna peninsula, saying that they were keen to talk.
    The head of the government peace secretariat Palitha Kohona had said the government was committed to restarting talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
    "I was approached by the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) on Friday. No we haven't heard anything...on behalf of the government, a statement was made. The government is committed to resuming talks as soon as possible. And we welcomed the overture made by the LTTE but since then there has been no (word from them). No, that is correct."
    On Saturday (August 12) the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke through army defences on the army-held peninsula, where some 40,000 troops, mainly from the Sinhalese majority, are based in a Tamil-dominated area cut off from the rest of the island by rebel territory.
    Telephone contact with Jaffna is extremely difficult. A senior army source in the area said that the night had been relatively quiet but that the military had launched an operation around first light.
    The military said government jets went into action after Sea Tigers attacked positions on a navy-held island. Aid workers reported heavy shelling, but truce monitors said fighting seemed slightly less than on Saturday when the army said 27 of its personnel were killed and 87 wounded.
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