Tamil Tiger Rebels to Resume Peace Talks

By KRISHAN FRANCIS

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said Wednesday they have agreed to hold talks with the government in Switzerland in February, raising hopes that the country may avoid sliding back to war.

The rebels’ top peace negotiator, Anton Balasingham, told reporters that the talks will review the 2002 cease-fire with the government.

The rebels’ approval came after Norwegian envoy Eric Solheim, a key broker of the peace process, met with the reclusive leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in the rebel-held city of Kilinochchi. Solheim delivered a message from President Mahinda Rajapakse, who had earlier agreed to resume peace talks that broke down in 2003 over the rebels’ sweeping demands for autonomy.

Solheim was expected to meet with Rajapakse later Wednesday after returning to the capital of Colombo to get the government’s final confirmation.

Solheim said it was Norway’s suggestion to hold the talks in Geneva.

"On the request of the Norwegian peace envoy, the LTTE’s leadership has agreed to participate in peace talks in Switzerland," Balasingham told reporters, referring to the rebels’ official name – the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"The starting point will be the implementation of the cease-fire," he said, adding that the government must ensure that attacks against rebels or their supporters stop.

The government, in turn, has demanded that rebels stop killing security forces.

In the latest attacks blamed on the rebels, a police officer was wounded when a grenade was thrown at a security bunker in the northern town of Vavuniya early Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said.

Police also were searching for those responsible for a series of explosions Tuesday night in Colombo that caused widespread panic but no known casualties, Deputy Inspector General of Police P. Jayasundara said.

Also Wednesday, unidentified gunmen killed two people, believed to be rebel supporters, in the Tamil city of Jaffna, a police officer said.

At least 81 government security personnel have been killed in attacks blamed on the Tamil Tigers since Dec. 4. The rebels deny involvement. Forty other civilians have been killed by unidentified assailants, with the government and the rebels blaming each other for the killings.

The violent comes despite a cease-fire that halted nearly two decades of civil war. The fighting killed 65,000 people.

The rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese of discrimination.