Sri Lanka ready for talks, LTTE is not - The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka, on Monday, said it was ready for peace talks with the Tamil Tigers in Geneva but accused the latter of placing roadblocks at every step.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here that Colombo favoured early discussions with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "Our President has said that his first priority is talks, his second priority is talks and his third priority is talks", Samaraweera told Manmohan Singh at a 25-minute meeting. "We are doing everything we can to resume talks with LTTE", the minister added. But he accused the LTTE of causing obstructions and sought the support of the international community for Sri Lanka's stand.

Samaraweera's comments came as tensions continued to mount in Sri Lanka's northeast where government troops and the LTTE are locked in sporadic fighting that has left the Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement of 2002 tottering. The LTTE and the Sri Lankan government met in Geneva in February but a second round of talks due in April has been indefinitely postponed following a row over transporting LTTE regional commanders from the island's east to the north.

Samaraweera told the Indian leader that Sri Lanka was ready to provide Sea Planes for this purpose and that two Canadians and a Sri Lankan were to examine the lake in the rebel-held area where the aircraft would land. But he said the LTTE did not want the Sri Lankan in their territory.

"At every step," the minister said, "The LTTE is putting roadblocks. We are facing problems, We want the international community to appreciate our efforts." On his part, the Prime Minister reiterated India's support for a negotiated settlement to the dragging ethnic conflict that has claimed thousands of lives since 1983.

Manmohan Singh said that only a political solution based on a negotiated settlement was possible in Sri Lanka.