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Talks will go ahead in spite of tit-for-tat
By Shimali Senanayake
The government and the LTTE have vowed to continue talks despite trading charges of not fulfilling promises made at the first round of talks in February.
The April 19-21 talks were thrown into doubt after suspected Tigers blew up their trawler on March 25, with six men on board, sinking a nearby navy gunboat and killing eight sailors. The navy craft was about to intercept the LTTE vessel suspected to be gun-running when it exploded.

It was the worst incident since the parties met in Geneva, Switzerland in February and pledged to scale-down the violence, which had pushed the island to the edge of war.

The Tigers denied responsibility but European cease-fire monitors said their disclaimer was hard to accept and warned the "dangerous escalation of violence," could push the island back to war.

On Tuesday, the government team of negotiators and advisers met at Temple Trees to discuss the present situation and the next steps for talks. President Mahinda Rajapakse was scheduled to attend the 7 p.m. meeting but was held up. Instead, the meeting was chaired the government's chief negotiator and health minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Subsequently de Silva, excused himself as he had to attend a function held by the Indian High Commission and the meeting was presided over by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Peace adviser and senior lawyer H.L. de Silva had raised the need for an agenda for talks while others in the delegation felt an agenda will restrict discussions and also provide the LTTE with an additional issue to bicker about.
Another delegate added that what needed to be addressed was a "basket," of issues.

"Even a basket needs an identity," Mr. De Silva retorted. Then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa pointed out that the "cease-fire was not at all beneficial to the government and why should we go on with this?"
In response minister Rohitha Bogollagama quipped, "So, are we ready?"
Mum was the response.

There was no notable progress made at the meeting or decisions taken and it was decided that the delegation meet again on Wednesday, April 5.
Meanwhile, Mr. de Silva held talks on Wednesday with Swiss ambassador Bernadino Ragazzoni, where he assured the government's commitment to talks with the LTTE despite "recent provocative action."

On the same day in London, Norway's peace envoy and International development Minister Erik Solheim met the Tiger's chief negotiator Anton Balasingham.

They discussed the LTTE's complaints about paramilitary forces, issues that will be taken up at the next session and the Tigers' security concerns.
"The agenda for the second round of talks will be definitely about disarming the Tamil paramilitaries if the government fails to take action to contain them as pledged during the first session of Geneva talks," Mr. Balasingham was quoted as telling Solheim on the pro-Tiger TamilNet Web site.

Mr. Solheim was expected to brief President Rajapaksa about the talks during a meeting set for Thursday. Norway's new peace envoy to Sri Lanka Jon Hanssen-Bauer who is due in the island for his inaugural visit on Monday, will also participate in the meeting. Hanssen-Bauer is scheduled to travel to Kilinochchi on Wednesday for talks with LTTE leaders.

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