Bitter SLankan parties likely to pledge more talks

GENEVA, Oct 29 (Reuters) Weekend talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels are widely expected to end today with little more than a pledge for further negotiations over a decades-old conflict.

The two sides, whose ethnic conflict has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983, met in Geneva for their first face-to-face meeting in eight months amid a resurgence of violence on the island of 20 million people.

While a 2002 ceasefire officially remains in place, up to 1,000 people have been killed in fighting since July over demands from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for an independent homeland for minority Tamils.

Both parties have come under pressure to halt attacks and address humanitarian strains from the latest surge in violence, which has uprooted thousands of Sri Lankans from their homes.

The Tigers have threatened to shun future talks if the government does not agree to open the main highway to the Tamil-dominated Jaffna peninsula, whose closure in August has resulted in isolation and hardship for local residents.

''We took up the humanitarian crisis in Jaffna as the urgent priority issue ... But the Sri Lankan government was not prepared to relieve the population from the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe,'' S P Thamilshelvan, chief LTTE negotiator, was quoted as saying on the pro-rebel Web site, www.tamilnet.com.

He was referring to the first day of talks, which he had earlier said had made no discernible progress, but added his delegation would return to the table today.

Government officials were not immediately available for their reaction.

Colombo declined to say yesterday whether it was willing to discuss re-opening the road, which it said had become unsafe because of LTTE artillery attacks, and stressed it wanted to focus instead on wider issues such as democracy, development and human rights in the restive north and east.

Sri Lankan officials say supplies are being sent to the Jaffna region by ship and aircraft. But some residents, Tamil politicians and civil society groups have reported serious food and fuel shortages.

Government officials and rebels spent the first round of talks trading accusations over who was to blame for the hostilities.

The government delegation, led by Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, made no immediate comment on the talks.

A news conference is planned at the end of today's negotiations.

The Sri Lankan military reported two guerrillas were killed and two wounded by police in separate incidents late yesterday in Eastern Province after they tried to attack policemen.

REUTERS SP VV1053