OSLO, June 8: Sri Lanka’s government said Tamil Tiger rebels had refused to meet them at talks in Oslo on Thursday, a blow to hopes of revitalising a peace process many fear is about to degenerate into renewed civil war.
Mediator Norway said there was no common ground between the island’s government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but the rebels stressed they were still continuing discussions separately with Norway.
The Oslo meeting, the first between the two sides since February, was to only centre on the role of the Nordic mission monitoring what is left of a 2002 ceasefire.
But some had still hoped it could yield more and possibly even pave the way for wider peace talks, which the Tigers have pulled out of indefinitely.
The Norwegian government said it was still talking to both sides separately.
“The Sri Lankan delegation was informed by the Norwegians that the LTTE had declined to meet,” a government statement said.
“The Norwegian government representatives themselves expressed complete surprise by the stance taken by the LTTE despite all the background preparations made by the Norwegian facilitators.”
Pro-rebel website Tamilnet quoted the Tigers as saying discussions would continue through mediators, although political leader S. P. Thamilselvan did not detail why they had refused to meet the government delegation.
The government said it had been told that the presence of nationals from European Union nations Sweden, Finland and Denmark in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was objectionable after the EU banned the Tigers as terrorists last month.—Reuters
Our Correspondent in Colombo adds: As the Norwegian brokered talks between the government and the LTTE failed to start in Oslo on Thursday, Sri Lanka’s police chief said security in Colombo had been increased following intelligence reports warning of LTTE strikes in the capital.
Inspector-General Chandra Fernando told the media that key government institutions in the city had been declared high security zones.
He said instructions were given to the police and military to carry checks on all vehicles coming into Colombo from the north and the east.
Fears of LTTE reprisals in Colombo come as fifteen civilians were killed on Wednesday in a Tiger-controlled area in the eastern Batticaloa district.
Four more were injured in the LTTE’s main base of Killinochchi when a claymore mine exploded on Thursday morning.
The rebels blamed the military for the attacks.
In retaliatory attacks by the rebels two more soldiers were killed and at least five injured in two anti-personnel mine attacks in the northeast, the military said. Two more civilians were killed in a mine explosion in the east.
