Blasts dim Lankan peace hopes

The government's top peace negotiator said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have stepped up their attacks because they are not serious about attending planned talks in Switzerland on saving a shaky ceasefire.

Palitha Kohona, the head of Colombo's peace secretariat, said the Tigers were trying to stay away from the talks rescheduled for April 24-25. They were originally due to start on April 19, but pushed back after the rebels asked for more time.

"I believe the ball is now in their court," Kohona told AFP. "We are doing everything to go to Geneva for the talks but we can't clap with one hand. There must be commitment by both sides."

For their part, the Tigers accused the navy of scuttling preparations for the talks by "excessive interference" in the transport of rebel field commanders between the east and the north of the island on Saturday.

The Tigers had said they wanted internal consultations among field commanders before the Swiss talks but the navy had imposed conditions on their transport arrangements.

The Tigers called off a planned movement of some 32 senior officials and raised doubts about the Geneva meeting. But they have stopped short of pulling out of the talks, which have been trimmed to two days instead of three.

"We wish to emphasise today's incident (regarding the navy) has put into question our decision and subsequent efforts to go to Geneva," the LTTE's political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan said in a letter to Norwegian peace brokers Saturday.

"We strongly suspect the latest act of the government of Sri Lanka is aimed at worsening the situation by rejecting the goodwill measures already in existence since the signing of the ceasefire."

Diplomats involved in the peace process said the latest stand-off could lead to more violence. Most of the 55 people killed in the past week by mine attacks were security personnel.

"We are going down a slippery slope," a diplomatic source said. But he added: "The two parties can still make a commitment to uphold the ceasefire and they have the power to put an end to the violence."

Four previous peace efforts have ended in failure in a country where over 60,000 people have been killed in three decades of ethnic bloodshed between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils.

The Swiss talks on saving a shaky February 2002 ceasefire have already been postponed once at the request of the LTTE.