Sri Lanka Peace Talks Collapse, Parties Fail to Set New Meeting

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Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The first talks in eight months between Sri Lanka's government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam collapsed with delegations failing to set a date for a new meeting to stop violence that threatens a return to civil war.

The two-days of talks in Geneva ended with both sides accusing the other of preparing new military offensives, according to statements late yesterday by the Ministry of Defense and on the TamilNet Web site.

``Both sides reiterated their commitment to the cease-fire agreement'' reached in 2002, Agence France-Presse cited Erik Solheim, Norway's chief mediator, as saying in Geneva. He appealed to both sides to ``live up to the commitments'' and maintain the peace process.

The government and LTTE last met in February. Since then, the cease-fire brokered by Norway has collapsed as violence escalated in the South Asian country of 20 million people. Delegates in Geneva disagreed over how to deal with food shortages affecting more than 500,000 civilians in the northern Jaffna peninsula where road links with the rest of the country have been cut since fighting in August.

Bloomberg