More Sri Lanka talks seen but fighting goes on

GENEVA, Oct 29: Crunch talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels were expected to end today with little more than a pledge for further negotiations as sporadic fighting continued.

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

But as talks entered a second and final day today, the foes fought artillery and mortar bomb duels in the northern Jaffna peninsula, in which three soldiers were wounded.

Two army troops were reported killed in fighting a day earlier, the latest of hundreds of killings to plague Sri Lanka since July despite a tattered 2002 ceasefire.

''We are looking for continuation of dialogue,'' government negotiator Palitha Kohona told Reuters from Geneva.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the restive north and east, has threatened to shun future talks if Colombo does not agree to open the main highway to the Jaffna peninsula.

The road was closed in August due to fighting. Its closure has choked supplies and led to more hardship for 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 Thamilselvan, chief LTTE negotiator, was quoted as saying on pro-rebel Web site, www.tamilnet.com.

He was referring to the first day of talks.

STALEMATE OVER HIGHWAY?

The government accused the Tigers of indulging in an ''exercise in cynicism'' by focusing on the highway. ''We had asked them for assurances of safe passage to ships (to Jaffna) which they have refused to give,'' said Kohona, who heads the government's peace secretariat.

A source close to the talks told Reuters there was little progress and the government was opposed to fully reopening the north-south artery that runs through rebel areas.

Government officials say the highway to Jaffna is unsafe because of LTTE artillery attacks, and stress the need to focus instead on wider issues such as democracy and development.

As both sides were talking, the Tigers accused the government of preparing for a possible offensive across the frontline where the artillery duels were being fought.

''Sri Lankan aggression ... causing implications on the talks at this critical juncture, would have serious consequences,'' LTTE military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan was quoted as saying by Tamilnet.

The military said it was responding to LTTE fire and denied rebel claims it was building up strength near the front.

The international community has called on both parties to halt attacks and human rights abuses stemming from the latest surge in violence, which has displaced thousands of people.

The UN said supplies needed to get to affected people fast.

''Not enough food is moving. It is an extremely vulnerable situation,'' said UNICEF's mission head in Sri Lanka, Joanna Van Gerpen.

Reuters

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