More deadly clashes in Sri Lanka with peace talks underway

GENEVA (AFP) - At least five people were killed in clashes in north and east Sri Lanka overnight, police and defence officials said, as the government and rebel Tamil Tigers hold peace talks in Geneva.

Two suspected rebels were found dead after police repulsed an attack on their patrol late Saturday, officials said.

A third Tiger fighter was gunned down when an unidentified man stormed into a hospital ward in northern Anuradhapura town where he had been recovering from stab wounds and opened fire, police said.

Two soldiers were killed by rebel gunfire in a separate skirmish in the northern Jaffna peninsula Saturday, defence officials said.

Tiger rebels said the first day's outcome was "zero" with no agreement on addressing the urgent needs of over half a million people directly affected by recent fighting that claimed over 3,000 lives and displaced more than 200,000.

"I would say there was no progress after day one," Tamil Tiger chief negotiator S. P. Thamilselvan said. "We did not hear of any steps that would indicate progress. The progress was zero."

He said the "core issue" for his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was the addressing of needs of Tamils affected by the recent fighting, the opening of a key highway and the lifting of an economic embargo on rebel territory.

Hopes of a breakthrough were raised Saturday when the Sri Lankan government climbed down from its rigid position and agreed to consider power-sharing similar to what exists in neighbouring India.

"A Sri Lankan model of devolution will be devised for an undivided country to address the root causes of this conflict," the Sri Lankan government's chief negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva said at the start of talks.

"It will also be a model which will be consistent with regional geo-political realities," de Silva added referring to his giant neighbour India.

The government had earlier opposed a federal system although a previous administration in December 2002 agreed with the Tigers to work towards granting extensive devolution of power within a federal constitution.

Those talks remained inconclusive and the Tigers said there was no firm offer on the table by the government during Saturday's closed-door discussions at the Geneva International Conference Centre.

Norwegian peace brokers had not expected a breakthrough during the two days of talks in this international city where the two parties were expected to play to their own audiences by sticking to entrenched positions.

However, diplomats involved with the process said they were trying to get the parties to agree to meet again in December and January to keep the peace hopes alive and save a tottering truce.

Their last meeting eight months ago in Switzerland was to prevent Sri Lanka sliding back to full-scale war after 153 people were killed between December and February. However, after the February meet, over 3,000 people have been killed.

Norway blamed both parties saying they failed to honour pledges.

A Sri Lankan government delegate who declined to be named said that little progress was made Saturday and noted that there was little scope for compromise.

"The government delegation is not in a position to agree to the LTTE demands because of the military implications," the negotiator said. "We cannot have 'normalising' without 'de-escalating.'"

Top peace broker Erik Solheim warned both sides to show progress or risk losing international financial support. The Tigers who have been fighting for independence for minority Tamils run the risk of greater international isolation while the governnent could lose foreign aid.

Solheim said the international community was running out of patience and the South Asian nation was jeopardising millions of dollars in support.

Speaking on behalf of Sri Lanka's key international backers -- the

European Union, Japan and the United States -- Solheim urged the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to resolve Asia's longest and the bloodiest separatist conflict which has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.

The LTTE's Thamilselvan said they were looking for an immediate response from the government to reopen a key highway to the northern peninsula of Jaffna, cut off by road from the rest of the island since August.

For their part, Thamilselvan said the Tigers were willing to fully cooperate with truce monitors and the Norwegians to implement the February 2002 ceasefire which now remains only on paper.