The Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to resume talks with the government to review the country's fragile ceasefire, the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo and a rebel spokesman said yesterday.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam have "agreed to discuss the CFA [ceasefire agreement] with the Sri Lankan government," Tom Knappskog of the Norwegian Embassy said.
"The willingness to have the talks is there, but no date or venue have been decided," Knappskog added.
In response to Knappskog's comments, Tamil rebel spokesman, Daya Master, confirmed that an agreement in principle had been reached to hold talks but that no date or venue had been set.
The earlier peace parlays broke down about one year after Norwegian peace negotiators brokered a ceasefire in 2002 to halt the country's brutal civil war. Six rounds of inconclusive talks were held.
The rebels earlier yesterday denied reports that they had agreed to meet with the Sri Lankan government to review the ceasefire.
Master, the rebel spokesman, said the rebel leadership was writing a letter to the Norwegians to detail their position.
The rebels are led by the reclusive Velupillai Prabhakaran, the longtime head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga wants to hold direct talks with rebels in an effort to end a spate of political assassinations that have plagued the country, her office said.
She made the request hours after Parliament on Thursday approved an extension of an emergency rule decree imposed after last week's assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar by a suspected rebel sniper.
Earlier news reports, quoting Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen, said the guerrillas had agreed to hold direct talks with the government.
Before Kadirgamar's killing, the rebels had refused to consider talks until the government disarmed paramilitaries who the Tigers said were operating in government-held areas and largely responsible for attacking rebel fighters.
The government denies that it has been sponsoring paramilitaries.
The emergency laws give broad power to the military -- which President Kumaratunga controls -- to make arrests, interrogate suspects and search houses at will.
The laws also put a ban on public gatherings, gives the president lawmaking powers and allows media censorship.
Soon after the legislature had approved the motion, the president's office said that she wanted a review of the 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire.
The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate nation for the minority Tamils in the north and east of the island nation off the southern tip of India.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS