Colombo, Feb 08: Sri Lanka will seek to amend the
ceasefire agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels during
negotiations in Geneva later this month despite opposition
from the guerrillas, official sources said today.
President Mahinda Rajapakse told his negotiators to
ensure that promises in his election manifesto titled 'Mahinda
Chinthana', or Mahinda philosophy, are followed in dealing
with the rebels.
"Everyone should take action in accordance with the
Mahinda Chinthana which was put forward before the people,"
state television quoted the President as saying while
addressing a two-day workshop for his negotiators.
Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday ruled out discussing a
political solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict during talks
in Geneva later this month and said only their faltering truce
should be on the agenda.
But a politician at Rajapakse's meeting in Colombo
yesterday said the President was keen for the truce deal to be
revisited in a bid to strengthen it and halt violence.
Rajapakse came to power in November promising a new
approach to the island's Norwegian-brokered peace process
which has remained deadlocked since the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam pulled out of face-to-face talks in April 2003.
The impasse was lifted when the Tigers and Colombo agreed
to meet in Geneva for two days starting February 22 to discuss
implementing their troubled truce, which went into effect on
February 23, 2002.
Bureau Report