Swiss peace talks failure pushes Lanka to abyss
Peace broker Norway was unable to clinch an agreement Sunday on resolving urgent humanitarian needs, political issues as well as dates for more talks to keep the process alive.
Diplomats involved in the peace bid said there were fears that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could resort to their trade-mark spectacular strikes to demonstrate their ability to hit.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "I hope the parties will honour commitments to abide by the ceasefire," Norway's top peace broker Erik Solheim told AFP after announcing failure in the Geneva talks.
Rebel negotiators cut short a planned visit to truce monitors Norway and Iceland, and were to return home immediately for discussions in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe accused Tamil rebels of firing artillery at troops in the embattled northern peninsula of Jaffna through the weekend and into Monday.
The LTTE had earlier said they suspected the military were massing troops for an offensive on Jaffna, a claim rejected by the military spokesman.
The talks collapsed on a single issue -- the opening of a highway into Jaffna. The Tigers wanted the road opened immediately and the government asked for more time to consider it.
"We could have discussed the matter further," said government negotiator Fariel Ashraff. "We had even suggested November 16 and 27 as possible dates to meet again."
However, the Tigers said they would return to the table only if Sri Lanka opens the strategic highway, which is also a key source of income for the guerrillas who "tax" goods and people moving on it.
About half a million people have been living under virtual siege conditions the government-held area since the middle of August.
The LTTE's chief negotiator, SP Thamilselvam, said he expected international pressure on Sri Lanka to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches the beleaguered population.
He said the closure was pushing the people "to a war environment and a humanitarian catastrophe", and amounted to creating a "Berlin wall."
"What we fear is that there could be an escalation of violence," a diplomat who declined to be named said. "The international community will take stock of this dangerous situation."
The Sri Lankan government is banking on foreign goodwill to tame the Tigers and halt any repetition of suicide attacks -- the trade mark of the Tigers who are fighting for independence for minority Tamils.
Two weeks ago, the Tigers bombed a southern port, killing two people and wounding 26. Two days earlier they killed 116 people, mostly sailors, in a suicide truck bomb attack against a convoy of busses.
"The Tigers have promised they will not resort to violence," the government's top negotiator de Silva said adding, however, that the rebels had broken similar pledges in the past.
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