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Sri Lankan, LTTE teams leave for Oslo

V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO: Delegations of the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Sunday left for Oslo to hold direct talks on the functioning of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), said the state-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.

The LTTE delegation, led by its political wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan, flew to Colombo on board a military helicopter accompanied by members of the SLMM, en route to Oslo. The Government delegation is led by head of the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) Palitha Kohona.

The talks are the first international travel by the LTTE after the E.U. listed it as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation last month and imposed a ban on its fundraising activities. A freeze on its assets across Europe has also been passed by E.U. Parliament.

Dr. Kohona was quoted by the state radio as expressing "hope that the talks would be fruitful." The talks were suggested by facilitator Norway in the aftermath of a foiled LTTE attack on a troop carrier last month.

The talks — scheduled for June 8 and 9 — are the third level direct negotiations between Colombo and the LTTE since 2002. The earlier negotiations are currently suspended following the LTTE's unilateral snapping of talks. The talks on a solution to the separatist conflict, initiated during the Ranil Wickremesinghe Premiership, were held between September 2002 and March 2003. On Sunday morning, at least two LTTE suspects escaped from a prison in Batticaloa, reports said. Six others also escaped in the jailbreak. Details are not known.

Sri Lankan troops on duty in the northern Jaffna peninsula were "fired upon by the LTTE," the Army said. However, "LTTE attackers withdrew when troops began retaliation."

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