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Dates for talks after May 24
The date for peace talks will only be fixed after the D-Day plus 90 days period specified in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the reopening of the A-9 highway linking Jaffna with the rest of the mainland, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.

He said it would be only after May 24 - 90 days after D-Day - the day the MoU was signed by him and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran - that the government would pick the date for talks with the rebels.

The statement comes in the wake of speculation as to whether the LTTE will, in fact, come for peace talks which were planned for in the Thai tourist resort of Phuket sometime towards the third week of June.

Cabinet spokesman G.L. Peiris was unable this week to confirm that the LTTE would definitely be coming for peace talks. At a media briefing on Monday, and during a parliamentary debate on Thursday, he answered queries on the question in the double-negative that "there was nothing to say that the LTTE will not be coming for talks".

The speculation arose after the pro-LTTE 'Tamil Guardian' had stated that peace talks were unlikely until the MoU - or the ceasefire agreement - was properly implemented.

Earlier, the LTTE had also insisted on the lifting of the ban imposed on it by the government as a precondition for talks.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told The Sunday Times that the government would itself wait for the full 90 day period before fixing a firm date for talks, but anticipated the date to be sometime in the third week of June.

The Premier is due to leave for the United Kingdom and Europe by the end of this month where he would meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair and European Union President Romano Pordi.

He will return to Colombo to review the progress of the implementation of the MoU vis-a-vis the A-9 highway reopening, and then leave for New Delhi for a meeting in mid-June with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

One of the outstanding issues about free movement on the A-9 road - the main road between the north and south - was on the verge of being cleared yesterday after the LTTE gave the greenlight for the operation of the Colombo-Jaffna bus services.

Ending weeks of haggling over the issue the LTTE had informed the monitoring mission that it would permit the operation of buses directly from Colombo.

As an initial step, within the next week 10 buses will be allowed to operate from Colombo while a similar number of buses will be able to operate from the north.
In a related development discussions were also held between the LTTE and the Army in Vavuniya on Friday to discuss ways and means of facilitating travel between the north and south. Both sides have agreed to increase the strength at the check points enabling more passengers to pass by.

Meanwhile, the LTTE is learnt to have asked the Norwegian government brokering the peace process for the support of "resource persons" to supplement its one-man negotiating team comprising chief spokesman Anton Balasingham.

The Norwegians, now busy with logistical arrangements for the talks, are reported to be confident that talks will take place as planned in June particularly in view of the request by the LTTE for the support of "resource persons".

Prof. Peiris has gone on record saying that India will be providing the Colombo government with the support of resource persons, especially in the legal and constitutional field.

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