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Sri Lanka Unlikely To Lift Ban on Tamil Rebels
The majority of Sri Lanka's cabinet ministers are opposed to the lifting of the ban on separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which is one of their main demands to enter the Norwegian-brokered peace process in the war-torn country.
The Island newspaper Friday quoted government sources as saying that this should be done only if the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels drop their demand for a separate Tamil state.
The Tiger rebels had told Norwegian peace envoy Eric Solhiem, when they met him last week in their headquarters in Wanni in the north of the country, that if the government was genuine on peace it should lift the ban on them to enter talks.
Meanwhile, Solheim has told United States officials during his visit there last week that peace efforts in Sri Lanka were extremely difficult but not hopeless.
He was quoted Thursday over the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation as saying that if peace returned to Sri Lanka the US and the European Union will provide the country with much needed aid and investment.
The international community had reached a consensus on maintaining Sri Lanka's unity and integrity, he noted.
Besides lifting the ban on the organization, the LTTE rebels also demand a formal ceasefire from the government and lifting economic embargo on areas controlled by them before they could enter peace talks with the government.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces in the north and east of the country since 1983 for an independent Tamil homeland. The bloody war has killed more than 60,000 people.
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