Sri Lanka's stalled peace talks are expected to resume in September following a crucial internal meeting of Tamil Tiger rebels this week in Paris, the government's top negotiator said Thursday.
G. L. Peiris said the government expected to end the 14-week deadlock in the Norwegian-sponsored peace process after the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) consulted its legal experts over Colombo's latest offer.
"The LTTE will be meeting with their legal and constitutional experts in Paris in the next few days and give us their response... We hope the peace talks can start towards the latter part of September," said Peiris, who is also constitutional affairs minister.
He said a venue for the next round of talks had not been decided although several governments had offered their capitals to host the talks.
Thailand was the regular host, but discussions have also taken place in Oslo, Berlin and Hakone in
Japan. Official sources said the September talks were most likely to be in a European capital.
"There are so many who have offered us their capitals, and the venue will be decided after consultations with the LTTE. It is not an issue at all," Peiris told reporters.
On July 17, government formally presented a set of proposals to set up a provisional administrative structure granting political, administrative and financial authority to the LTTE.
The Tigers pulled out of the Norwegian-backed peace talks on April 21 after accusing the government of failing to deliver on promises made at six rounds of negotiations since September 2002.
The guerrillas have made the establishment of an interim council for war-ravaged areas a precondition for breaking the impasse in the process and resuming discussions aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed.
Peiris said there had been no formal response from the Tigers to the latest government offer, but that there were indications the guerrillas were studying the package with the
help of their legal and constitutional experts.
Meanwhile, the United States has asked Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels to renounce terrorism, stop political killings and resume peace talks with the Colombo government, the US embassy here said Thursday.
The embassy quoted state department spokesman Philip T. Reeker as saying they were concerned that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas were undermining peace prospects in the island.
The US designated the LTTE as a foreign terrorist organisation in October 1997 and further tightened screws on the Tigers after the events of September 11, although they were not linked to attacks in the United States.
The US embassy in its statement here said Washington was concerned that the Tigers were also not abiding by the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire which went into effect on February 23 last year.