Sri Lanka's Tamil Rebels Likely to Further Extend Ceasefire: ReportSri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels are likely to further extend its unilateral ceasefire and remain open to peace talks which hopefully would bring an end to the 18-year ethnic war in the country, according to a report of the Sunday Observer.The paper said that Anton Balasingham, theoretician and spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has indicated this while he met with Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim in London. Solheim, who has been engaged in brokering peace in the war- torn country in the past two years, is expected to return to Colombo this week after meeting with Tiger rebel representatives in London. It is reported that LTTE's overseas supporters have shifted their positions in favor of a negotiated settlement to the country 's long-running ethnic conflict in the wake of the British ban on the organization late last month. President Chandrika Kumaratunga is due to travel to Europe shortly for a tour of four countries to ask them to ban LTTE. The LTTE rebels extended their unilateral ceasefire which started last December for a second time till March 24 and requested the government to reciprocate their truce offer. The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 in the north and east of the country for a separate Tamil state. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the bloody war. |
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