President meets Solheim :

Positive moves towards peace

Moves towards resuming the peace process took a positive turn yesterday with President Mahinda Rajapakse having extensive discussions with Norwegian International Development Minister and Special Peace Envoy Erik Solheim on the possibility of re-starting negotiations with the LTTE.

The President was accompanied by the Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Senior Advisor on Peace to the President Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs H.M.P.S. Palihakkara and Secretary General of the Government Peace Secretariat John Gunaratne.

Solheim is also expected to hold talks with LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran today in Kilinochchi, where the urgency of kickstarting the peace process is likely to be stressed by the special peace envoy.

LTTE theoretician Dr. Anton Balasingham will also join Prabhakaran.

Solheim and visiting US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns also held discussions on the same issue.

A consensus on a venue for talks on the ceasefire is expected at the end of Solheim's deliberations in Colombo and Kilinochchi. This was a highly contentious issue, with the two sides differing widely on the choice of venue.

President Rajapakse has called for immediate talks with the LTTE to halt spiralling violence threatening the ceasefire.

"We are strong militarily, but I firmly believe that talks with trust can solve this problem," Rajapakse asserted in an interview with Associated Press on Sunday.

"We can start the talks as a confidence-building measure," he said, adding "before we go into details how to address the issues, the killings must stop".

"In return of my trust, I want the LTTE to trust us. We are all Sri Lankans and we can't let this small country go back to war," he said.

US Under Secretary of State Burns has also called upon the LTTE to desist from violence and terrorism.

"The United States is fully dedicated to peace and calls upon the LTTE to stop its violence and terror activities which has severely affected the people of this country. Various terror activities committed by the LTTE over the past several years have been highly condemned by the international community," he said.