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| Saturday, 04 September 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| President says no return to war
The President said she believed neither side wanted to return to fighting although the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had refused to resume face-to-face negotiations with her government. She said although a Norwegian-backed peace process remained stalled since the Tigers pulled out in April last year she was optimistic that the ethnic conflict could be resolved peacefully. "I don't think the LTTE has much to gain by going back to war," the President said, adding that she herself would ensure that the Oslo-brokered truce would be upheld by government forces. She said her government agreed to discuss an interim governing authority for rebel-held areas and was ready to set up such a council within about three months, but the Tigers refused. "The LTTE is very intransigent and they will not agree to that," President Kumaratunga told Colombo-based foreign correspondents shortly after her return from Europe. She denied Tiger allegations that security forces were backing a renegade faction to carry out attacks against the main Tiger guerrilla outfit and said the rebels had failed to provide her with any evidence to back up their claims. However President Kumaratunga accused the Tigers of killing over 250 of their rivals since the ceasefire went into effect from February 2002. |
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Produced by Lake House |
COLOMBO,
Friday (AFP) - President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday
ruled out a return to war despite factional killings and expressed hopes
of a peace deal with Tiger rebels.
