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Sri Lankan government waits for rebels to name date for talks |
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February 9, 2001
COLOMBO-- (AP) - The Sri Lankan government is awaiting a date from Tamil Tiger rebels to begin peace negotiations, a Cabinet minister said Thursday. If the rebels provide a date, "we are ready to start talks," said D.M. Jayaratne, agriculture minister and secretary of the governing People's Alliance coalition. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are fighting to carve out a Tamil homeland from parts of Sri Lanka's north and east. More than 63,000 people have lost their lives since the war broke out in 1983. "Once a date is given, we will make suggestions on a place (for talks) as well as on an agenda," Jayaratne told The Associated Press. The rebels' chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, has said that talks should take place on the principles of a Tamil homeland. "The platform for talks should be the principles of homeland, right to self-determination and recognition of the separate identity" of the Tamils, a rebel statement quoted Balasingham as telling Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim at a meeting in London on Tuesday. Norway has been trying for two years to restart talks between the two sides. Solheim has been shuttling between the government and rebels in an effort to facilitate the talks, which broke down when the rebels resumed fighting in 1995. He met President Chandrika Kumaratunga in Colombo on Jan. 31. Kumaratunga has said that talks should be based on constitutional amendments that her government has proposed which would grant greater powers to the country's eight regions, including two where Tamils are the majority. The government has rejected a separate homeland for Tamils.
On the Net: Tamil Tiger website: http://www.eelam.com |