Sri Lankan govt. forces, Tamil rebels meet

Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels met Wednesday in eastern Batticaloa after a long gap to discuss cease-fire related issues in the east of the country, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website reported.

Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Trond Furuhovde presided the meeting, which was attended by delegations from the government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

The LTTE delegation was led by E. Kosalan, head of their eastern political wing while the government forces delegation was headed by Brigadier Vajira Wijegunawardena.

The LTTE rebels suspended their routine meetings with chiefs of the government forces in the east in June this year, accusing the military of offering haven for their renegade eastern commander known as Karuna.

Karuna split from the mainstream group of the LTTE in the north in March and went underground one month later after his 6,000 strong fighters failed to resist the assault from the northern faction.

Ever since then the two rival factions have been locked in internecine clashes in the east and in capital Colombo, which have posed a threat to the ongoing Norwegian-brokered cease-fire and hampered the early resumption of the stalled peace talks.

The LTTE rebels and the government entered the cease-fire in February 2002 and started direct talks seven months later but the rebels walked out in April last year after a six round.

Norwegian facilitators last week failed to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table in their latest efforts to revive the stalled peace talks.