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Govt. offers sea-planes for LTTE
The Government has offered two sea-planes owned by SriLankan Airlines to transport LTTE cadres from the east to the north and is now awaiting a response, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

He said if the LTTE agreed to this proposal made through the facilitator Norway, engineers would be sent from Colombo to see whether the sea-plane could land somewhere in Kilinochchi.

These two sea-planes with a capacity of 10 passengers each are now being used to fly tourists to holiday destinations in the south. The Sunday Times learns that the government has discussed with the airlines the possibility of obtaining the two sea planes free of charge, instead of Norway paying for the aircraft.

The dispute over the transport of eastern cadres for a central committee meeting in Kilinochchi was cited by the LTTE as one of the reasons for putting off the Geneva talks.The offer of the sea-planes came as the Government declared that it was committed to the peace process and was looking forward to the resumption of talks in Geneva despite the escalation of violence and tension in the aftermath of the suicide bomb attack on the army commander.
The move came as all main political parties in a joint appeal stressed the need to resolve the crisis ‘through the democratic process of discussion directed towards peace’.

On Friday the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference -- the EU, Japan, the US and Norway -- met and decided to meet again in Tokyo to work out further steps to bring the government and the LTTE back to the peace process.

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