Sri Lankan new gov't to resume peace talks with Tamil rebels

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 08, 2004

Sri Lankan new gov't to resume peace talks with Tamil rebels

Sri Lanka's new government is to resume peace negotiations with the Tamil Tiger rebels to achieve durable and just peace in the war-torn country, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Wednesday.

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Sri Lanka's new government is to resume peace negotiations with the Tamil Tiger rebels to achieve durable and just peace in the war-torn country, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Wednesday.

Addressing the nation over television for the first time since her United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won the April 2 parliamentary election, Kumaratunga said that the new government will resume peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels involving all parties concerned.

"We shall undertake all necessary actions to re-commence negotiations with the LTTE. We shall put in place immediately a comprehensive program involving all sections of our population, including those parties most concerned by the ethnic question, to promote the resolution of the ethnic question and the achievement of a durable and just peace," she said.

Kumaratunga noted that the priority of the new government is torebuild the national economy which will help improve the standardsand quality of life of the less advantaged sections in the country.

The UPFA defeated the United National Party led by former PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the snap parliamentary election four years ahead of schedule.

Wickremesinghe's two-year regime held six rounds of talks with the LTTE rebels until the rebels staged a temporary pullout one year ago.

Kumaratunga, a bitter critic of the Wickremesinghe's handling of the Norwegian-brokered peace process, sacked the government charging it with conceding too many concessions to the rebels.

She vowed to introduce a new constitution to the country by abolishing the present executive presidential system and also to introduce a new election system.

Having failed to secure the 113 seats required in the 225-member assembly, Kumaratunga is set to form a minority government in the next few days.

The new parliament is to be convened on April 22.

Source: Xinhua

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