TOKYO: Sri Lanka’s government is unwilling to observe a truce ahead of any peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said yesterday.

There would be no point when previous ceasefires had been heavily breached by the rebels, the minister told a Tokyo news conference.
“We’re always maintaining our position that we are ready to talk with the LTTE ... if they wish to indulge in a more reasonable approach,” Bogollagama said.

The foreign minister and his president, Mahinda Rajapakse, were in Tokyo for meetings with the Japanese government, a major donor to the war-torn country who this week offered to send a mediator to help get peace talks back on track.

Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, who seek an independent state in the north and east of the country. Fighting has intensified in recent months.

While the government has fared better than most expected in major ground fighting, few expect the military to be able to eradicate the rebels from the jungle.

Prospects for peace talks in the near future waned in November when the rebels’ political wing leader and chief negotiator was killed in a government air strike.

Bogollagama said a cross-party committee was close to announcing a new plan to devolve power to Tamils and try to resolve the conflict.
Human rights organisations including Amnesty International criticised both rebels and government this month.

COLOMBO: Human rights abuses have made Sri Lanka one of the most lawless places in the world and the government must do more to investigate them, a regional human rights group said yesterday.
The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission complained of what it called “the constant killing” of people in police detention and the falsification of information to “justify crimes committed by state agencies”.

Describing Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system as “dysfunctional”, the group said “as long as this situation remains, life will remain a nightmare to all civilians in the country”.

It said in a statement to mark International Human Rights Day the situation was worsened by the targeting of civilians by Tamil Tiger separatist rebels, the government and paramilitary groups. It said criminals were also profiting from the climate.

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government says security forces have not been involved in abuses and that a presidential commission is probing allegations, but the government has rejected calls for a UN human rights monitoring mission.

“It is our aim to help our people to enjoy all freedoms of democracy with respect for human rights, free of the fear and oppression of terrorism,” Rajapakse said in a statement.

The Tigers, who seek an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, accused the government of abusing human rights and the international community of turning a blind eye.

“The world is standing by and just watching these gruesome death squad activities of the Sri Lanka State,” said Selvy Navaruban, Tamil Tiger spokeswoman on humanitarian issues and human rights in an email statement.

Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Sri Lanka since 1983 — around 4,500 in the last year alone.-Reuters

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