Talks venue: Govt response soon
 

BY Manjula Fernando and Uditha Kumarasinghe

THE Government yesterday said it will shortly respond to the LTTE's refusal to hold talks on the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), as suggested by peace facilitator Norway.

Citing security reasons, the LTTE said it cannot agree to have talks at the BIA. This was conveyed to Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar by LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi on Thursday.

The LTTE again insisted on a foreign venue for the talks. They had earlier suggested Oslo, the Norwegian capital.

Government Spokesman Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said the rationale behind proposing the BIA by the Norwegian Foreign Minister was that the Airport is seen as a secured area.

"LTTE leaders travelling abroad have sometimes spent more than seven to eight hours there waiting for flights. The perception was that the question of security did not arise there."

Although the Government agreed, the LTTE has ruled out talks at BIA. "We will respond to this latest development in a few days," the Minister told reporters at the weekly Cabinet press briefing.

Responding to media queries Minister De Silva said 'election agreements' will not have a bearing on the CFA talks and they were going with an 'open mind' to discuss this issue with the LTTE.

In the aftermath of the brutal assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the government called for direct talks with the LTTE to urgently review the CFA and amend certain clauses which hamper its effective implementation.

Around three weeks into this call, Norway is still trying to get the two parties to agree on a talks venue. Emphasising that the talks will merely discuss the loopholes in the CFA, the Government from the outset vied for a local venue for talks.

In response, the LTTE proposed Kilinochchi as a possible venue. The government counter proposed Omanthai, a more neutral location where they had already held ground level talks. The latest venue, BIA, was proposed by Norway.

Clarifying certain newspaper reports speculating that the UN was assuming the role of peace facilitator, the Government spokesman said the invitation extended to the UN was part of a distress call by the Government to foreign states and world bodies to assess the ground situation with regard to the peace process and human rights violations including killings of political leaders by the LTTE.

"The UN was invited as part of this bid and it was not an effort to replace Norway," the Minister explained.