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Sri Lanka rebels refuse to meet government at Oslo

Posted on: Thursday, 8 June 2006, 09:25 CDT

By James Kilner and Peter Apps

OSLO/COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's government said Tamil Tiger rebels had refused to meet them at talks in Oslo on Thursday, a blow to hopes of revitalizing a peace process many fear is about to degenerate into renewed civil war.

Mediator Norway said there was no common ground between the island's government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but the rebels stressed they were still continuing discussions separately with Norway.

The development came as new violence on the island left at least three dead. More than 400 people have been killed since early April in a growing low intensity conflict in Sri Lanka's north and east, dominated by its minority Tamil people.

The Oslo meeting, the first between the two sides since February, was to only center on the role of the Nordic mission monitoring what is left of a 2002 cease-fire. But some had still hoped it could yield more and possibly even pave the way for wider peace talks, which the Tigers have pulled out of indefinitely.

The Norwegian government said it was still talking to both sides separately.

"The Sri Lankan delegation was informed by the Norwegians that the LTTE had declined to meet," a government statement said. "The Norwegian government representatives themselves expressed complete surprise by the stance taken by the LTTE despite all the background preparations made by the Norwegian facilitators."

Pro-rebel website Tamilnet quoted the Tigers as saying discussions would continue through mediators, although political leader S.P. Thamilselvan did not detail why they had refused to meet the government delegation.

The government said it had been told that the presence of nationals from European Union nations Sweden, Finland and Denmark in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was objectionable after the EU banned the Tigers as terrorists last month.

"Discussions on SLMM, at this crucial juncture, would be productive when the delegations raise the issues separately with the Norwegian facilitators, giving room for the facilitators to work out an agenda and let them approach the issue progressively," Thamilselvan told www.tamilnet.com.

NO COMMON GROUND

Earlier in the day, Tamil daily newspaper Uthayan reported that Thamilselvan was refusing to meet the government team as it was only led by a civil servant and not a minister.

Norway said there would be a press conference at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT). Both sides were continuing to meet with Norwegian diplomats and Development Minister Erik Solheim, who brokered the original truce, was headed to the venue, a spokesman said.

"We will explain today how the two sides were unable to find common ground to sit down together, although we have been meeting with each side," Norwegian government spokesman Espen Gullikstad told Reuters.

If violence continues, many fear that in time it could spiral back to the full-scale civil war that killed more than 64,000 people and devastated the island's north and east, where the Tigers want a separate Tamil homeland.

Withdrawing EU staff from the mission would involve removing current SLMM head Swedish Major General Ulf Henricsson and leave the mission with a handful of Norwegian and Icelandic staff -- making it increasingly difficult to monitor the battered truce.

SLMM has been caught in several firefights and angered both sides by accusing them of repeated cease-fire breaches. They blamed members of the armed forces for involvement in extra-judicial killings and ruled the rebels had no right to send their Sea Tiger warships to sea.

The army said one officer was killed and a soldier wounded in a suspected rebel mine attack in the north-western Mannar district on Thursday. The LTTE said two civilians were killed and another four wounded in attacks on rebel territory.

Each side routinely denies carrying out attacks on the other.

Source: REUTERS

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