Sri Lanka to talk peace with Tigers

SRI LANKA’S president and the leader of Tamil Tiger rebels agreed yesterday to resume peace talks, raising hopes the tsunami-ravaged island nation may avoid sliding back into civil war after months of escalating violence.

President Mahinda Rajapakse and reclusive rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran accepted a Norwegian proposal for negotiations to be held in Switzerland, the two sides said after a high-stakes round of shuttle diplomacy by Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim. “Yes, I have accepted the proposal to go ahead and resume talks,” Rajapakse told The Associated Press after meeting with Solheim in the capital, Colombo.

The Norwegian envoy cautioned the talks would not be easy and said no date was set for their resumption, although he expected it to be in mid-February.

“They should not underestimate the difficulties,” Solheim said in Colombo, hours after meeting with the reclusive Prabhakaran in the rebel-held city of Kilinochchi

“We have to talk to the Swiss before we can announce a date.”

The rebels also promised to stop all acts of violence.