Lanka peace hopes falter after talks collapse

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) refused to negotiate with Sri Lanka's government last week after travelling to Oslo.

Diplomatic sources say Norway is now looking for an exit after spending six years attempting to broker peace in the island nation. A landmark truce that Oslo helped to negotiate in 2002 is now in shreds, according to Scandinavian monitors.

"There is at the present time no room for a Norwegian initiative in the peace process," Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim told AFP in Oslo last week after failing to get the Tigers to negotiate.

A diplomat close to the process said that Norway may now reconsider its role.

"We are not going to see the start of political talks soon. The focus will be on re-establishing contacts," he said. Oslo has given the two sides 10 days to respond positively or go their own ways.

The Tigers used the aborted talks as a platform to renew their call for "self determination." They are demanding outright independence or power-sharing in a federal structure.

The rebels said in a statement Saturday that they controlled a "de facto State of Tamil Eelam" and reaffirmed their "policy of finding a solution to the Tamil national question based on realisation of its right to self-determination."

The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government agreed in December 2002 to work out a power-sharing plan within a federal structure, but negotiations have been deadlocked since April 2003.

Direct face-to-face meetings had been taking place until last week when the Tigers formally refused to meet with a government delegation.

The LTTE began its armed struggle in 1972 after demanding a separate state called Eelam for the island's 12.5 percent Tamil minority, which is concentrated in the islands north and east.

The international community, led by the United States, opposes independence for the Tamils arguing it could have a domino effect on neighbouring India.

Meanwhile, at least five people were shot dead in Sri Lanka's restive northeast port district of Trincomalee and the main city of Colombo at the weekend, military officials said Sunday.

In the northeast, two wood-cutters were shot dead at Manirasakulam while two people, including a student, were gunned down in nearby Muttur Saturday, a military official said adding Tiger rebels were believed responsible for the killings.