SRI LANKA: Tamil Tiger rebels pull out of peace talks dashing hopes that a Norwegian peace mission could stem violence

Record ID: 349868

  • Title: SRI LANKA: Tamil Tiger rebels pull out of peace talks dashing hopes that a Norwegian peace mission could stem violence
  • Date: 21st April 2006
  • Summary: MEDIA
  • Embargoed: 6th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QSEBRWN79JN3GHY8XC6QA4ES
  • Story Text: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels pulled out of peace talks indefinitely on Thursday (April 20), saying the island was heading for war.
    About 80 people have been killed in the past two weeks in a series of suspected Tiger attacks, ethnic riots and unsolved murders which the two sides blame on each other.
    Talks due to take place in Switzerland next week had been seen as the best chance to reduce tension, but the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said on Thursday they would not attend until "normality" returned.
    " Our leader must meet with our regional commanders and discuss the violence that is taking place. Although the government has agreed to provide transportation for regional commanders to come to the meet, we have problems with using a private helicopter. We have informed Norway that until this meeting takes place we will not attend the second meeting in Geneva. We are not in a position to attend the Geneva talks" head of the LTTE political wing S.P. Thamilselvan told reporters.
    Tigers' two-decade fight for a separate Tamil homeland has already killed more than 64,000 on both sides and, while the island's majority Sinhalese south was largely spared, the Tamil-dominated north and east was left in ruins.
    With the Geneva meeting already postponed once by the Tigers last week, Norway, which brokered a 2002 ceasefire, sent envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer to try to save the talks.
    But he failed to secure meetings either with President Mahinda Rajapakse or reclusive Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and some diplomats increasingly say that neither side is really serious about moving the peace process forward.
    "The first step is to bring an immediate secession of all acts of violence. Norway condemns in the strongest possible terms the latest acts of violence that has occurred on this Island. This message was also conveyed by me to Mr.Thamilselvam during our meeting. It is my sincere conviction that peace is in the fundamental interest of all people in this Island. And I also believe that there is no other way to settle the conflict than through talks. It is now the responsibility of the political leaders of both sides to show the vision, the courage and the will, to focus on the fundamental issues and not on issues of more symbolic political value," he told reporters.
    The Tigers had already said they were provisionally pulling out of the talks due to problems in transporting eastern rebel leaders to a pre-talks meeting. The government eventually offered private helicopters to transport rebel commanders, but Thamilselvan said this too was unacceptable.
    He again denied that the rebels were behind recent attacks on the military -- something few believe -- and said killings of Tamil civilians and ethnic riots in the northeast must also stop before talks could take place.

    he army said it had killed one Tiger rebel on Thursday as he tried to attack a government position, while a member of an anti-Tiger Tamil political group was shot dead in the east. A fragmentation mine exploded in the north, but no one was hurt.
    Analysts say that what the Tigers really want is for the government to disarm or rein in the Karuna group of renegade ex-rebels, who have been attacking the Tigers in the east. With Karuna seen strengthening the army's hand if war restarts, analysts say that is extremely unlikely. And without new talks to act as a safety valve, few see any alternative to violence rising further, possibly including Black Tiger suicide bombers hitting the streets of Colombo, which would shatter confidence in the $20 billion economy.
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