Sri Lanka peace talks start in Geneva

Sri Lankans light a string of oil lamps in Colombo on Tuesday ahead of a resumption of peace talks in Geneva between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels. PHOTO: EPA

Sri Lankan government officials and top Tamil Tiger rebels began two days of talks in Switzerland yesterday aimed at halting a slide back into war.

The island's Tamil-dominated north and east has been calm since the two sides agreed to meet, but if the Geneva talks collapse, many fear the end of a fragile 2002 truce and a return to a civil war which has killed over 64,000 people.

"There is little confidence ... between the two sides. Confidence can only increase, but it starts at a low level," Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim, who brokered the meeting, told journalists as talks got underway at a chateau outside Geneva.

The Tigers have said the talks will decide if there is peace or a new civil war.

Diplomats say the talks, the first direct contact between the two sides since 2003, may see little more than the restating of known positions.

But they are also hoping there will be agreement to meet again along with some trust-building measures such as opening new crossing points between rebel and army territory.

Diplomats hope the talks will reduce tension that peaked late last month after a string of suspected rebel attacks on the military. The rebels denied the attacks.

"The [hoped-for] outcome of this meeting will be some way of strengthening the agreement on the ceasefire and hopefully that parties will meet again," Solheim said.

"If they fail, I really do believe there will be a war," said a European diplomat. "But I think it's very unlikely. What we'll probably see is some trust-building measures and a date and venue for more talks."

President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled out rebel demands for a separate Tamil state -- a response the rebels branded as childish.

The Swiss talks will not cover a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict, only the implementation of the current ceasefire, including what to do about paramilitary groups.

The rebels say four years of peace have delivered little. They demand troops pull back from Tamil civilian areas and that the government disarm government paramilitaries, including a breakaway Tiger faction led by a former Tiger commander called Colonel Karuna.

Meanwhile, a Tamil rebel was shot to death in eastern Sri Lanka by six gunmen, just hours before the Geneva talks got underway, a pro-rebel Web site said yesterday.