Sri Lanka gov't warns Tamil rebels over peace talks

Associated Press, Wed September 13, 2006 08:29 EDT . COLOMBO, Sept. 13 (Kyodo) _ The Sri Lanka government warned Wednesday that Tamil rebels should not abuse forthcoming peace talks with government representatives to prepare for war.

A statement issued by the government's peace secretariat, welcoming the efforts of the international community to kick-start the stalled peace process, noted that the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have always abused such talks.

''It has been the experience in the past that the LTTE has always used peace talks as a period to enhance its military capabilities,'' the statement said.

''The government hopes that the co-chairs (the United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway) and the facilitator (Norway) do the utmost to ensure that the past practices of the LTTE are not repeated in this instance.''

There was no serious fighting following the announcement of peace talks Tuesday and the Colombo Stock Exchange responded positively to the prospects of peace Wednesday, with two key indices each moving up more than 2 percent from the day before.

The announcement in Brussels said that the two sides have agreed to ''unconditional'' peace talks which will begin in Oslo in the first week of October.

Colombo expressed ''great concern'' about ''certain elements'' of the co-chairs statement, saying that commitments to dates and venues had been made without prior consultations with the Sri Lanka government and categorized this as ''procedural irregularities.''

It also alleged that there were ''factual inaccuracies'' in the statement, particularly specifying a reference to an alleged bombing of a school in rebel-held Mullaitivu in the northeast as ''grossly misleading.''

The statement appreciated the efforts of the co-chairs -- the key financial backers of Sri Lanka's peace process -- who have committed to pour in $4.5 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation if the country moves forward toward peace.

It reaffirmed President Mahinda Rajapaksa's declaration last month at a meeting with the ambassadors of the co-chairs in Colombo, in which the president said the government was ready to engage in talks with the LTTE ''following a clear commitment by the LTTE leader to a comprehensive and verifiable cessation of hostilities.''

Colombo, expressing its full commitment to participate in peace talks with the LTTE, said that specific modalities relating to dates and venue must be discussed and agreed between the government and Norway, which is facilitating the peace process.

Fighting between government forces and the LTTE since last December has cost at least 1,500 lives and displaced over 200,000 people.

Increasing number of civilians disappearing in Sri Lanka , rights group says

Associated Press, Wed September 13, 2006 09:57 EDT . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Sri Lanka is entering a ``period of terror'' with an increasing number of people reported missing, many of them after being taken away by men believed to be government military personnel, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

With the cease-fire between the Sri Lankan government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels nearly collapsed, ``the country is entering into a further period of terror in the name of counterinsurgency,'' the Asian Human Rights Commission said in a statement.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission had said more than 400 ethnic Tamil youth were reported missing since December and 50 of those happened in August.

The AHRC said many such disappearances were caused by masked men traveling in ``white vans without a number plate,'' which it said means government military.

``In Sri Lanka causing of forced disappearances has been treated by the state as a legitimate means by which to deal with 'terrorism.' The failure to investigate and to take appropriate legal action is also evidence of the state's involvement in such matters,'' the commission said.

15 wounded in grenade explosion in butcher's shop in northern Sri Lanka , police says

Associated Press, Wed September 13, 2006 06:06 EDT . BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) A grenade exploded in a busy market area in northern Sri Lanka - on Wednesday, injuring 15 people, police said, as doubts loomed over the prospects of peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Speaking on behalf of the EU, Japan, the United States and Norway, overseers of Sri Lanka - 's peace process, Ferrero-Waldner said the meeting could take place in October in Oslo.

But Sri Lanka - 's government denied it had agreed to unconditional talks.

``We will put forward our conditions,'' government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said on Tuesday.

He also criticized peace broker Norway for announcing a date and a venue without having first consulted with the government.

``We will take it up very seriously, we are a sovereign state, they (Norway) are only facilitators. We have not delegated any of our powers to them,'' Rambukwella said.

In a statement Wednesday, the government said it needed a personal commitment from the reclusive Tiger leader for a ``comprehensive and verifiable'' cessation of hostilities before talks could be held. The government is ready for talks ``following a clear commitment by the LTTE Leader to a comprehensive and verifiable cessation of hostilities,'' the government said in a statement referring to Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Palitha Kohona, head of the government's peace secretariat, told The Associated Press that the rebels have in the past used cease-fire periods to rearm and regroup and such action could not be allowed in future.

``It's important that a peace process be a genuine peace process,'' Kohona said.

Government troops and rebels have traded artillery fire across their front lines in Jaffna peninsula for nearly a week, but no fighting was reported from the region on Wednesday.

The fighting has killed 35 soldiers and 150 Tamil Tigers, according to the defense ministry. But, rebel official Seevanatnam Puleedevan said only 12 of the group's fighters had been killed, and said the military's toll was 78.

Both sides are known to exaggerate each other's death tolls and independent confirmation of casualty claims is not possible.

Jaffna has long been a flash point for violence in Sri Lanka - 's 19-year war between the Sinhalese-dominated state and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who claim it as the cultural heart of the country's 3.2 million ethnic Tamil minority.

The rebels want to carve out a separate state for the country's predominantly Hindu Tamils, citing decades of discrimination by the mostly Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

The conflict cost the lives of about 65,000 people before the truce. Hundreds more combatants and civilians have been killed and about 220,000 displaced since April in heavy fighting following an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Sri Lanka - 's top general.