Negotiations process will continue: Prime Minister

VIETNAM: Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake yesterday said peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will go on and urged the Tigers to stop "terrorism".

"There is terrorism and there is negotiations," said Wickremanayake, speaking during a visit to Vietnam.

"Negotiations will go on," he said, stressing his Government's commitment to a power-sharing plan with the Tigers. "Ultimately the Tamil people must decide whether they accept terrorism or not, not we."

He added: "We want dual power, dual authority... so all can share administrative powers and authority." He said it was pathetic that the LTTE was not responding positively to Government peace overtures.

He told a BBC reporter that the LTTE has to choose between the path of peace and the path of violence. He elaborated that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has convened an All Party Conference which will evolve a solution acceptable to all.

It will not be solution proposed by one party. "It is not ethical for the LTTE to keep away citing various reasons when we have kept the door open for negotiations," the Prime Minister said.