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14-03-2006

Sri Lanka rebels threaten to pull out of peace talks

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels repeated threats to pull out of next month's peace talks unless Colombo delivers on a promise to disarm rival militants.

Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said Monday that the talks scheduled from April 19 in Geneva were in danger following attacks in the country's east.

The LTTE had on Sunday accused Colombo and its paramilitary units of launching a second assault against them since their last round of talks in Switzerland last month.

"The Geneva peace talks will face grave danger if the Sri Lanka government refuses to disarm Tamil paramilitary organisations and continues allowing them to launch offensive military operations against our positions," Balasingham told the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com web site.

"The LTTE leadership is watching the current developments after the Geneva talks with serious concern and dismay," he said.

"So far the government has failed to take any action to contain the violence of the Tamil paramilitaries operating in the Tamil areas, particularly in the eastern province."

He said the Tigers were losing faith in the peace efforts when political leaders and the military were issuing "contradictory and hostile statements" against the letter and spirit of the Geneva talks.

Both sides agreed during two days of talks last month to stop killings that had left at least 153 people dead during December and January despite a truce in place since February 2002.

Scandinavian truce monitors last week warned that the peace process was in danger following the killing of two Tamil Tiger rebels in the first clash since the talks in Switzerland.

"If such attacks and killings should reoccur, the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) fears that the next round of talks is put at stake," the outgoing SLMM chief Hagrup Haukland said in a statement.

The rebels said on Sunday that said about 30 security personnel and paramilitary soldiers had attacked one of their posts two days earlier.

Source-AFP