Lankan candidates promise peace

Sporadic grenade attacks and shootings in and around Tiger-held areas ahead of the Nov.17 poll serve as an eerie reminder of a silent conflict that has killed dozens since a 2002 ceasefire halted two decades of civil war.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- blamed for the August assassination of the island's foreign minister -- are refusing to resume peace talks they pulled out of in 2003 because they are not ready for a long-term deal, analysts say.

"The LTTE simply are not in a position to give up their demand for a separate state yet," said Kethesh Loganathan of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo.

"It is one of the factors which is holding them back from entering into negotiations on a permanent settlement," he said.

"They are not committed to a permanent peace within a united Sri Lanka."

The Tigers, who have an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 cadres, want interim self-rule in the 15 percent of Sri Lanka they control with their own courts, tax system and even speedgun-toting traffic police.

But they insist on dictating the terms in their quest for a homeland for minority Tamils, who they say are discriminated against by Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese, which stalled the peace process under outgoing President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Peace envoys and truce monitors say a return to a full-blown war that killed over 64,000 people is unlikely, but analysts expect little change whoever wins the election.

"You get the inevitable feeling that they have an agenda and that they have been keeping to it," said Iqbal Athas, a defence analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly, referring to a spate of killings of intelligence and military officials.

"Since 2002 they have built a much stronger military machine ... That is one of the reasons the peace talks remain stalled at the moment," he added. "(The election outcome) is not going to make a substantive difference to the peace process."