Fresh shelling as Norway envoy seeks SL talks

Colombo, Oct 2: Norway's peace envoy began a fresh bid today to arrange crunch talks between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lanka's government to halt renewed violence, as sporadic shelling continued in the island's besieged north.

Jon Hanssen-Bauer met government officials in Colombo on Monday and is due to meet the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in their northern stronghold of Kilinochchi tomorrow.

''It looks like he will come up with something,'' hopeful Chief Government Whip, Health Minister and peace negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva said after meeting Hanssen-Bauer.

''The government is ever ready and willing to start the peace process, so we want a communication from the LTTE whether they are ready.'' While both parties say they are ready to resume talks after a five-month impasse, truce monitors see little will from either side to end the worst outbreak of violence since a 2002 truce and some say talks are still a long way off.

''There are still a lot of pieces that have to fall into place,'' said one diplomat, asking not to be named. ''There's still a long way to go.'' Emboldened by the capture of strategic rebel territory south of the northeast harbour of Trincomalee, some military officials say they are keen to inflict as many casualties on the Tigers as possible before any talks.

Hundreds of civilians, troops and rebel fighters have been killed since violence flared in late July, tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes and many live in fear.

In the northern army-held Jaffna peninsula, which is cut off from the rest of the island by Tamil Tiger territory and where food and fuel are in short supply, residents living on rations are woken up each night by rockets and artillery fire.

Fresh shelling continued today morning.

Tiger shells fell within Jaffna's municipal limits over the weekend, residents said, though no one was killed.

''I am very scared of this shelling,'' said 50-year-old Suguna Ponnuthurai, a former shop manager who now looks after her ailing, blind mother in Jaffna town. ''The noise is so loud we cannot sleep.

My mother shouts in fear every night.'' Jaffna has also seen a rash of abductions and killings in recent months, with accusations levelled against the rebels as well as the security forces.

On Saturday, a grenade exploded in front of the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Tigers and the government are poles apart over the central issue of devolution of power to minority Tamils in the north and east, where the Tigers demand a separate homeland.

President Mahinda Rajapakse is in talks with the island's main opposition party to seek a consensus among the majority Sinahlese south on how to end the conflict.

But some analysts are sceptical, and expect a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983 to grind on.

REUTERS

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