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Sri Lanka's main parties agree to hold talks with the LTTE

V.S. Sambandan

Decision follows meeting between Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremesinghe

POINTER TO THE FUTURE: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse with Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on Thursday. — PHOTO: SRIYANTHA WALPOLA

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's two main parties, the ruling United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the Opposition United National Party (UPN) on Thursday agreed on the need to hold "urgent talks" with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) aimed at reaching a lasting solution to the decades-long separatist conflict.

The agreement was an outcome of a 90-minute meeting between President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a presidential aide told The Hindu .

Thursday's meeting is a part of Mr. Rajapakse's plans to hold talks with southern parliamentary parties before starting negotiations with the LTTE. Mr. Rajapakse hopes to complete the talks with parties represented in Parliament within three months and then hold direct talks with the Tigers.

Mr. Rajapakse won the November 17 presidential election with the support of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which have demanded the continuation of the unitary state. According to sources close to the President, Mr. Rajapakse had held similar talks with the JVP on Wednesday night. The details of the meeting have not been made public.

Optimism on truce

In another development linked to the peace process, the Foreign Ministers of Norway and Sri Lanka on Thursday expressed "optimism" that talks on "strengthening of the implementation and effective monitoring of the CFA can commence early next year."

Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store held "wide-ranging discussions" on bilateral ties and "matters related to the Norwegian facilitation in the Sri Lankan peace process," a joint statement said. The two Ministers are currently in Hong Kong for the sixth WTO ministerial meeting. Earlier this week, Japan offered to host the talks on issues relating to the implementation of the ceasefire. The Japanese special representative Yasushi Akashi described the security situation as "deteriorating" and one that was cause for "considerable concern."

The Government has been calling for a review of the implementation of the CFA for the past few months, particularly after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar by a suspected LTTE sniper this August.

At Thursday's meeting with his Norwegian counterpart, Mr. Samaraweera "reiterated the new President's commitment to the peace process and the role of Norway as the facilitator." The "operational modalities for the resumption of talks," were also discussed, a joint statement released by the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

Norway has been the facilitator for Sri Lanka's peace process since the late 1990s.

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