Colombo, Tigers hold direct talks in London

Colombo, Tigers hold direct talks in London

Agence France-Presse, Colombo

The Sri Lankan government said on Sunday it had held face-to-face talks in London with Tamil Tiger rebels ahead of formal peace negotiations in Thailand.

Minister of Economic Reform Milinda Moragoda, one of two ministers picked by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to pursue the Norwegian-sponsored peace process, met with the Tigers' chief negotiator Anton Balasingham in London on Saturday, a government statement said.

It was the first ministerial-level meeting the Sri Lankan government has held with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since the two sides signed an indefinite cease-fire agreement on Feb. 22.

"The discussion covered a variety of issues regarding the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and preparations for direct negotiations in Thailand, including the agenda," the statement said.

Previous talks since the cease-fire went into effect have been held by Bernard Gunatilleke, the head of the government's "peace secretariat" coordinating the peace bid.

Official sources said peace talks were expected in Thailand in August or September.

The negotiations had been expected earlier in the summer, but the sources said the government and Tigers first wanted to ensure that the memorandum of understanding setting out the cease-fire was being fully implemented.

Norway has been trying to broker talks between the two sides to end three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

The Tigers has been fighting for a homeland called "Eelam" for the island's ethnic Tamil minority.

The peace process was revived after Wickremesinghe was elected in December on promises to bring peace to Sri Lanka and jumpstart its troubled economy.

The cease-fire has largely held up, despite a series of incidents that have raised alarm bells.

The Scandinavian force monitoring the cease-fire said that on July 13 two of its members were briefly held against their will by the rebels after the observers were asked by the Sri Lankan navy to inspect a suspected Tiger boat.

The monitors denounced the Tigers' "irresponsible behavior" but said the rebels expressed regret during a meeting with the chief observer, retired Norwegian major general Trond Furuhovde.

And last week, a Sri Lankan soldier was killed by the Tigers after he crossed into rebel territory and opened fire on LTTE cadres. The government played down the incident and the monitors said the soldier was motivated by "unknown personal reasons."

But the two sides have also reopened two key highways under the cease-fire and Wickremesinghe in March became the first Sri Lankan leader in two decades to visit the embattled northern peninsula of Jaffna, a Tiger stronghold.

The meeting in London, a large base for expatriate Tamils, came as Wickremesinghe wins increasing international support for the peace drive.

Last week the prime minister visited Washington, where he said he received encouragement from President George W. Bush "to go ahead with the political process to bring peace to Sri Lanka, a peace based on equality, human rights, rule of law, in other words democracy".

"I got all the support I want for (the peace process)," he said after his meeting at the White House.

The U.S. has hinted that the Tigers, known for their trademark suicide bombings, could incur the wrath of the international "war on terrorism" if they scuttled the peace drive.