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Colombo hopeful of talks schedule

V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Wednesday said it remained hopeful that the second round of ceasefire talks in Geneva later this month would he held. The Government's position is against the backdrop of the recent spiralling violence in the north-east and a stand-off between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"As far as the Government is concerned, we are optimistic that the talks will go on," Keheliya Rambukwella, Minister and Colombo's recently appointed spokesperson on the security situation, told a press conference on Wednesday.

Commitments

"On the part of the Government, we have done everything possible in order to resolve this conflict and to keep our commitments fully and totally," he said.

Norwegian Special Envoy for the peace process Jon Hanssen-Bauer held meetings in Colombo to break the standoff.

He is scheduled to meet LTTE's political wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan in Kilinochchi on Thursday.

Referring to the stand-off on the transportation of LTTE cadres in east and north, Mr. Rambukwella said Colombo had agreed to a proposal to permit the LTTE to fly in "private helicopters."

On the violence, he said the Government had exercised "extra patience" to ensure that the peace process was not derailed.

Army denies charges:

Military spokesperson Prasad Samarasinghe denied media reports linking the killing of five youths in the northern Jaffna peninsula on Tuesday night to the security forces. The killing was reported in the TamilNet website, which blamed soldiers. Brig. Samarasinghe denied the report.

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