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Lanka govt, LTTE make
headway in peace talks

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government on Thursday agreed on certain steps to ensure development and improve the security scenario in the violence-hit northern and eastern provinces even as the jail sentence on LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran cast its shadow on the peace parleys.

The two sides evaluated the ceasefire agreement, in place for the last eight months, and decided on measures to improve the security situation, inter-ethnic cooperation and human rights scenario in the northern and eastern provinces, a statement issued by talks facilitator Norway said.

"We have reasons to be satisfied with the outcome of talks this morning," Sri Lankan government's chief negotiator G L Pieris said. The two sides agreed on a framework to seek millions of dollars in foreign aid for rebuilding the country.

Norway, responsible for bringing the two sides to talk peace, is hosting a mini-donors' meeting in Oslo on November 25 to mobilise funds for resettlement and rehabilitation programmes in Sri Lanka.

The two sides also agreed on the formation of a joint committee for development of the northern and eastern provinces, which would have sufficient Muslim representation. Muslims comprise about seven per cent of Sri Lanka's population of 18 million people.

Sri Lankan Minister Rauf Hakeem, who is part of the government delegation, said he was happy that the LTTE was prepared to understand the need to co-exist.

Hakeem said the committee was likely to report to the two negotiating teams instead of the prime minister as proposed earlier.

Earlier, the LTTE's chief negotiator Anton Balasingham lodged a strong protest on the sentence against Prabhakaran with the Sri Lankan side. "It will not affect the peace talks, but will affect the peace process," he said during the second round of negotiations underway in Nakhon Pathom (Thailand) since Thursday.

The 19-year-old conflict has left 65,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Norway brokered a ceasefire between the two sides in February, which is still in place.

The two sides met for the first time in September in Thailand and had decided to establish a joint committee to deal with issues relating to high security zones, aimed at enabling the return of a large number of displaced persons.

More reports from Sri Lanka

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