Uncertainty looms over peace talks

By Chris Kamalendran

The resumption of the peace talks later this month was in the balance yesterday with the LTTE declaring that the current military action may force it to re-examine its decision to take part.

The move came as the head of the Government’s peace delegation Nimal Siripala de Silva told The Sunday Times that they were yet to receive a confirmation about the resumption of talks.

A spokesman for the LTTE Peace Secretariat in the Wanni said that on Friday the senior members of the movement had discussed about the issue of taking part in the talks, but had expressed their concerns about the ongoing military action.

Hanssen Baur

He said following the meeting LTTE political wing leader S.P.Thamilselvan in a letter to Norwegian Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer had expressed their concerns about the military action.

The pro-LTTE Tamilnet also said the LTTE had called on Norway to create a conducive environment for the conduct of talks.

Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said the government had sent its response to issues raised by the LTTE through the Norwegian facilitators and was awaiting a response. He said that the government had made its intentions clear to the Norwegians that it wanted to discuss political issues at the talks which were due to start later this month.

The government had agreed to hold talks on October 28 and 29, but the two sides had not agreed on the venue with the government favouring Switzerland and the LTTE Oslo.

Mr. Rambukwella said the ongoing military action would continue as long as the LTTE continued its attacks on the security forces. “We have reserved the right to carry out any defensive military action. That is one of the important factors compared to previous occasions when the two sides agreed to have talks,” he said.