Sri Lankan president calls for early resumption of peace talks with Tamil rebels

Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga Thursday called for the early resumption of the peace talks which has been stalled for more than one year with Tamil Tiger rebels.

"She stressed that the peace negotiations should commence without delay in the mutual interest of the two parties," the President's office said in a statement after visiting Norwegian special peace envoy Erik Solheim met with the president earlier on Thursday.

"The Norwegian delegation undertook to continue the process of consultations on outstanding issues with a view to bringing both parties into direct negotiations," the statement said.

President Kumaratunga rejected accusations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels that the government had authorized the military activities in the east in support of the renegade rebel eastern commander known as Karuna.

She also reiterated the government's commitment to maintaining the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE rebels and achieving a lasting peace in the country.

Norwegian peace envoy who arrived here on Monday night on a four-day visit to the country failed in his renewed efforts to revive the stalled peace talks in the country.

The LTTE rebels and the government had held six rounds of talks before the rebels pulled out of the talks in April last year.

Both sides entered into a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire seven months prior to the direct talks which began in September 2002.

The peace talks have been further delayed due to the rebel insistence on the setting up of an interim administration in the war-battered north and east before the talks could be resumed.

Source: Xinhua