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Colombo suggests two dates for holding peace talks

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Sri Lankan Government lays down terms for dialogue

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has laid down three conditions for resumption of talks with the LTTE, according to defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella.

At a news conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Rambukwella said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had proposed October 30 or November 10 as the tentative dates for talks.

The conditions are "Prabakaran must himself make the commitment to the Co-Chairs or the facilitators and to the Government. They [LTTE] must ensure that smuggling of arms via sea and grouping up together in order to destabilise [the] Government must stop within that period and if the LTTE gets into any kind of terrorist activities we deserve the right to respond."

Message conveyed

He said the message had been conveyed to the LTTE through Norwegian special peace envoy Hansson Bauer.

Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal G.D. Perera, in a `special statement" read out to the media said the "highly successful limited defensive military actions" in the last few weeks would bolster the peace efforts.

He said media assistance and continued encouragement boosted the morale of the troops and strengthened their determination to defeat provocative actions by the enemy. He said the forces were engaged in defensive actions. TamilNet in a report claimed that three Kfir jet bombers attacked Pooneryn as Mr. Bauer met LTTE's representatives in Kilinochchi.

It quoted Mr. Thamilchelvan as saying Colombo was continuously engaged in "offensive aggression," despite the assurances given to the Norwegian facilitators. The Tigers were still extending support to unconditional talks as urged by the international community.

"There are no credible signs of improvement from the Sri Lankan side. A terror campaign of extra-judicial killings, forced disappearances in Sri Lankan military controlled areas, blocking access to humanitarian agencies, and the continued refusal to re-open the A9 route refusing a population of 5,00,000 in Jaffna access to humanitarian supplies," were all part of a "war of aggression," and did not display any commitment to the Ceasefire Agreement, he has been quoted as saying.

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