Sri Lankan Peace Talks can be Fruitful: PM

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 30, 2002

Sri Lankan Peace Talks can be Fruitful: PM

Peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels can be fruitful while formidable challenges also lie ahead, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels can be fruitful while formidable challenges also lie ahead, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday.

In a speech to the parliament on the peace supporting meeting or donor conference held on Monday in Norwegian capital Oslo, Wickremesinghe said that peace process in the next few months willprogress well as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels have said they would settle for regional autonomy instead of fighting for a separate Tamil state.

"We have now reached the stage when the political issues couldbe addressed and expected to make progress in the near future withregard to the framework in dealing with these issues in a coherentsequence," Wickremesinghe said.

"The thrust of the paradigm shift reflected in the statement of Mr. Prabhakaran and Dr. Balasingham is that the LTTE no longer relentlessly pursues the idea of a separate state but is content to consider substantial power-sharing within a framework of a unified Sri Lanka." he said.

In his annual so called "Heroes' Day" speech made on Wednesdayin the rebel-held north, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said that he would favorably consider the regional autonomy within political framework to meet the aspirations of minority Tamils.

"This encourages me to believe that the political dialogue canbe fruitful because the positions of the two parties are no longerincompatible," Wickremesinghe said.

However, the LTTE leader warned in his speech that they will fight for an independent state if their demand for regional self-rule is rejected by the government.

The LTTE rebels and the government are currently engaged in Norwegian-brokered peace process aimed at ending the ethnic conflict that has claimed 64,000 lives since 1983.

The two sides has held two rounds of peace talks in Thailand since mid-September and a third round will take place in Oslo on Dec. 2 to 5.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Sri Lanka Govt, Tamil Rebels Hold Talks

Intn'l Support for Peace in Sri Lanka to Highlight Oslo Meeting

Cabbage Tells Changes of Beijingers' Life ( 12 Messages)

A 'Xiaokang' Society Means Not Merely Money ( 5 Messages)

China Starts Working out Law on Citizen ID Card ( 33 Messages)

Differences between US and NATO Widen: Opinion ( 2 Messages)

Sino-US Relations Improve Despite Neo-realism ( 27 Messages)