Sri Lanka urges rebel Tigers to join peace process

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 21 (Reuters) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on the separatist Tamil Tigers to give up violence and embrace democracy and the peace process, including international negotiations brokered by Norway.

Rajapaksa said his government was committed to constitutional reforms and negotiations and had engaged in combat only as a ''calibrated defensive reaction to very serious cease-fire violations by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil)'' at recent flash points.

''The LTTE must also demonstrate a visible effort to transform itself from an entity practicing terrorism to one practicing democracy,'' he said in prepared remarks to the Asia Society in New York.

The president addressed the Asia Society and the UN General Assembly three days after Sri Lankan government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels exchanged gunfire and skirmished at sea to end a four-day lull in fighting around the South Asian island state's besieged Jaffna peninsula.

He noted that while Colombo had not reimposed a ban on the LTTE since violence flared up in July, the group remained blacklisted by many Western states as a terrorist organization.

''Only the LTTE can un-ban themselves by good behavior, democratic transformation and good-faith negotiations,'' he said.

Earlier yesterday, he told the UN General Assembly the LTTE was a ''ruthless terrorist outfit'' that ''devotes its full force to violence, suicide bombings, massacre of civilians, indiscriminate armed assaults, and conscription of young children for war.'' Norwegian mediators are trying to fix a date for direct talks between the government and LTTE rebels after both sides announced last week they were ready to resume talks after a gap of five months.

Both have also set conditions, with the government demanding a written guarantee that rebel attacks would cease, and the Tigers insisting on an end to army offensives.

The government and rebels accuse each other of trying to restart a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.

The LTTE pulled out of peace talks in April and a new bout of fighting erupted in late July, killing hundreds of troops, rebels and civilians in the worst violence since a 2002 cease-fire.

REUTERS DKS BST0758