Sri Lanka president compromise seen vital to peace bid

COLOMBO, June 18 (Reuters) A cross-party initiative to forge consensus for devolution aimed at ending civil war will collapse unless Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his party compromise, a top official said today.

Rajapaksa and his ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) want to devolve power to the island's minority Tamils at a district rather than higher level, which the government's Tamil Tiger rebel foes have dismissed out of hand.

Tissa Vitharana, minister of science and technology and chairman of the All Party Representative Committee, says he and the presidential committee aim to combine the cross party proposals and draw up a devolution blueprint in around six weeks.

But he says all hinges on whether Rajapaksa and his party are prepared to compromise.

''A lot depends on how flexible the different parties are, especially the SLFP in this context,'' Vitharana told a forum of journalists and editors on Monday.

''I think that they'll have to accept the majority consensus. If that happens then it will work. If it doesn't happen, then it will break down.'' Vitharana advocates devolving power according to provinces, which the main opposition United National Party has endorsed.

Analysts have voiced concern at the proposals of Rajapaksa and his party, saying they are non-starters because they offer less autonomy to the Tigers than they have now and insist on rebel disarmament - which the insurgents steadfastly refuse.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) demand a separate state in the north and east of the island, which Rajapaksa flatly rules out, and many analysts and politicians alike question whether the rebels - widely listed as a banned terrorist organisation - will ever ultimately settle for anything less.

The rebels and the military are locked in near daily land and sea battles, ambushes and bombings which have killed an estimated 4,500 troops, rebels and civilians since last year.

A 2002 truce is now dead on the ground, Sri Lanka's military has vowed to wipe out the Tigers militarily, and the death toll from a war which has killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983 is rising daily. REUTERS JK RAI1833