Truce Monitors in Sri Lanka to Meet Tamil Rebel Leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 07, 2002

Truce Monitors in Sri Lanka to Meet Tamil Rebel Leader

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Trond Furuhovde, head of the monitoring team overseeing truce in Sri Lanka left capital Colombo Wednesday to have talks with separatist Tamil Tiger rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran in the rebel-held Wanni area in the north of the country, diplomatic sources said.

Furuhovde, a Norwegian retired army general, was accompanied by three other foreign monitors who were flown in a Sri Lanka airforce helicopter.

Of the 16 international monitors, six more are expected to arrive in Colombo Wednesday and six others by Sunday, government spokesman G.L. Peiris has said.

The monitors are here in terms of the cessation of hostilities agreement signed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Prabhakaran on February 22.

The monitoring mechanism included in the truce deal is part of the process which is expected to lead to direct peace talks between the government and the Tamil rebels.

The LTTE rebels have been fighting against the government forces in the north and east of the country with an aim to set up an independent Tamil homeland. The brutal ethnic war has killed more than 64,000 people since 1983.

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