Colombo (AsiaNews) – Rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will not lay down their weapons as requested by the government of Sri Lanka in order to start a new round of peace talks, saying they can still win the war it has waged against government forces for the past 25 years.
The Sri Lanka government said last week it would consider re-starting the peace process if the Tamil Tigers agreed to lay down or decommission their weapons and issued a clear timetable for negotiations.
In response LTTE political chief Balasingham Nadesan told Reuters that “any approach that disturbs the balance of power and parity of status (between the government and rebels) is counter-productive to the peace process,” adding that “We have full confidence that we will win this war with the help of our Tamil people.”
The government made its request after rebels said last week they wanted to meet Norwegian peace brokers to resume the stalled peace process. It also said that the LTTE tends to use visits by peace envoys as propaganda.
For analysts though there are no real prospects for a renewed peace process since the government this year formally ended the cease-fire war in place since 2002.
Recently the Sri Lankan Prime Minister said his government was committed to installing a civilian administration in the northern and eastern provinces, but only after defeating the LTTE militarily.
