Sri Lankan rebels say government must agree to reopen key road to north at Geneva talks

Associated Press, Fri October 27, 2006 04:37 EDT . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Sri Lanka - 's government must agree to reopen a key road to ethnic Tamil-majority areas in the north during weekend peace talks or no negotiations will be possible in the future, a rebel spokesman said Friday.

The Tamil Tiger rebel negotiators participating in the two-day talks starting in Switzerland on Saturday will insist that the road linking northern Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the country be opened, rebel spokesman Daya Master said.

He said the rebels will not consent to any future meetings with the government if the demand is not met.

The road leading to government-controlled Jaffna city, cutting across a vast rebel-held territory, was closed in early August when intense fighting broke out between government troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

Severing the road cut off 500,000 people who now depend on irregular, government-arranged food shipments brought mainly by sea.

The peninsula is facing an acute shortage of food, medicine and other essential items because of a lack of transport facilities and security threats, residents say.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought the government since 1983 demanding a self-ruled homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east, citing decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese-dominated state.

More than 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire. But the truce has virtually collapsed with heavy fighting that has killed another 2,000 soldiers, rebels and civilians this year.

Government and rebel officials are meeting in Switzerland over the weekend to find ways to halt the bloodshed.