Sri Lankan gov't prepares for talks with rebels

Sri Lankan government's peace delegation for next week's peace talks with the Tamil Tigers attended a 2-day preparatory workshop to study the developments in the peace process, a government official said Sunday.

Chandrapala Liyanage, coordinating director (media) at the office of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, said that the 2- day workshop started on Saturday at the presidential secretariat.

The government delegation would comprise of 12 members with the Health Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva remaining as the head. Three of his ministerial colleagues will assist him.

Palitha Kohona, the head of the government's peace secretariat, said that part of the delegation is due to leave on Tuesday for a 2-day talks on Oct. 28 and 29 in Switzerland.

He said the Swiss government, in consultation with the Norwegian peace facilitators, are handling logistics of the 2-day parley.

Meanwhile, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel sources said its delegation is expected to see some changes.

The rebel chief negotiator since 2002, Anton Balasingham, is expected to miss the talks due to his ill health.

S. P. Thamilselvan, the rebels' head of the political wing, said the LTTE is attending the talks to honor the efforts of the international community.

Thamilselvan asked the international backers of the faltering peace bid to bring in more pressure on the Sri Lankan government to adhere to basics of negotiations than indulging in covert military action.

The government in turn accuses the rebels of perpetrating violence.

The talks come after a period of violence and military action which has seen large scale displacement of civilians from the north and east.

Over 200,000 civilians were displaced and more than 2000 people were killed since the end of 2005.

More than 64,000 people were killed in the island's ethnic separatist conflict from mid-1980s to 2002 when the current Norwegian backed process began.

Source: Xinhua