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Sri Lanka Must Formulate Own Solutions to Ethnic Crisis: PM
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has stressed that his country must formulate her own solution to the prevailing ethnic crisis and that experiences of other countries should not be "planted".
Addressing a school elevation ceremony in his electorate of Horana, south of the capital Colombo on Saturday, he said Sri Lanka cannot compare its situation with that of Northern Ireland as Tamil Tiger rebel leader Prabhakaran is the embodiment of brutality, killing even his own comrades.
He said that he had told foreign delegates that he maintained a common status on the ethnic issue with President Kumaratunga. There would not be an end to hostilities soon and the military option will continue till the enemy is totally eliminated, he added.
The government is not in favor of a ceasefire as earlier experiences have shown that the enemy wants a ceasefire only when it is weak, he said.
The Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting against the government forces for a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country since 1983.
President Kumaratunga favors a devolution formula and grants minority Tamils greater autonomy in an attempt to win their support to bring an early end to the long-running civil war.
During his two-day visit to Sri Lanka last week, British Foreign Office Minister peter Hain urged both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to start peace talks as soon as possible in a bid to end the 17-year ethnic war.
He said that Britain would like to share their experience in Northern Ireland, where similar problems were solved by devolution, with Sri Lanka.
However, he stressed that no two conflicts are the same and Sri Lanka must find its own solution to its ethnic conflict.
Hain met Prime Minister Wickremanayake and other cabinet ministers during his visit here.
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