Sri Lankan PM rules out separate Tamil state

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wikremesinghe has ruled out dividing his country into two separate states, despite signing a ceasefire agreement with the Tamil Tiger rebels last Friday.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting for independence in the north and east of Sri Lanka since 1983 and have previously rejected offers of autonomy, saying the minority Tamil community can only prosper without the influence of the majority Sinhalese.

Despite pushing for peace instead of war, Mr Wickremesinghe has said he will not give the Tamils a separate state and will not withdraw 40,000 Sri Lankan troops from the northern Jaffna peninsula, the centre of the Tamil region.

The ceasefire deal signed on Friday presents new hopes of a solution to the 19-year-old Sri Lankan war.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was elected in December after vowing to bring peace to the island. His predecessor had favoured a military solution to the Tamil insurgency, which has killed at least 64,000 people since 1983.

Mr Wickremesinghe has said the ceasefire deal is the basis for a new confidence-building process designed to lead to direct talks and, eventually, a possible end to the war.

The Tamil Tigers have yet to respond to his refusal to give them a separate state.