COLOMBO, 15 September 2006 — Clashes between Sri Lanka’s army and Tamil Tiger rebels and scattered violence have left at least a dozen people dead in Sri Lanka, the government said yesterday, even as hopes rose for a resumption of peace talks.
Japan’s peace envoy Yasushi Akashi will visit the island in the last week of September in a bid to boost the peace process, diplomats said.
Meanwhile, mediators are trying to pin down a date for direct talks between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, after both sides announced this week they were ready to resume talks after a gap of five months.
Army spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said one soldier had been killed and four wounded when rebels fired artillery shells and mortar bombs at the tense frontline in the northern Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday night. The army had returned fire.
Scattered attacks in the north of the Indian Ocean island since Wednesday morning have left three more soldiers and two policemen dead, the government said.
It said two rebels died in an attack on a military camp near the northern town of Vavuniya yesterday, and accused the rebels of shooting three civilians in Vavuniya and a local official in the northeastern town of Trincomalee.
“Ironically, all these attacks came in the wake of the LTTE’s fresh plea to resume peace talks with the government,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“The government has already urged the LTTE leadership to show sincere commitment to the peace process renouncing acts of terrorism.”
The LTTE also called this week for the army to stop attacks, and analysts said each side had left itself room to pull out of talks if fighting continues.
Mediator Norway has called for talks in Oslo in early October, but the government said on Wednesday it had not yet been consulted about the date or venue. The government and rebels accuse each other of trying to restart a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.
The LTTE pulled out of peace talks in April and a new bout of fighting erupted in late July, killing hundreds of troops, rebels and civilians in the worst violence since a 2002 cease-fire.
Both sides have launched offensives since then, although the tide appeared to be turning in the army’s favor. It has captured rebel territory near the strategic port of Trincomalee and says it has overrun Tiger frontline positions in the Jaffna peninsula in the far north.
A breakaway faction of the Tigers, which is believed to be backed by Sri Lanka’s military, said any talks between the LTTE and the government should be restricted to strengthening the truce and ending the LTTE’s “violent conduct”.
In an email sent to Reuters it called for “inclusive talks” on Sri Lanka’s long-running ethnic and political problems.
