Sri Lanka gov't, LTTE agree to hold peace talks
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, April 29, IRNA
Sri Lanka-LTTE-Peace talks
The Sri Lankan government and rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam agreed to meet each other for peace talks in Geneva, but no date has been decided yet.
The peace talks would be held after a meeting by the leaders of the rebel group LTTE, said a Doordarshan (Indian government news channel) report quoting Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer.
"The parties have confirmed that they will participate in Geneva, but there is one issue that must be solved first," Hanssen-Bauer said after a meeting of representatives of nations overseeing the Sri Lanka peace process.
The two sides had been set to meet in the Swiss capital earlier this week but the rebels backed out, citing attacks on Tamil civilians and other disputes with the government.
"The LTTE must hold a central committee meeting before they go," he said.
The announcement came as Sri Lanka re-opened roads linking the government and rebel-held territory on Friday after two days of airstrikes against guerilla areas ended.
However, the threat of a return to civil war remained amid continuing bloodshed.
The recent violence, which included two days of government airstrikes against rebel positions following a suicide bombing in the capital, posed the most serious threat yet to the 2002 truce between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels seeking a separate state in the north and east of the country.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency in Geneva on Friday said it expects many of the people displaced by the recent fighting to start returning home.
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