Prabhakaran: Firm

Geneva, Oct. 29 (AP): Sri Lankan government and rebel Tamil Tiger negotiators failed to reach any major breakthrough in a new round of peace talks that ended today in an atmosphere clouded by new tensions in the island nation.

The two days of talks ended on schedule without the two sides even agreeing on a date for a new round of talks, said Erik Solheim, Norway’s minister for international development.

“No agreement was reached by the parties on how to address the humanitarian crisis,” Solheim told reporters.

Hopes were slim from the outset that a 2002 Norwegian-brokered cease-fire could be revived, with both sides refusing to give way on key issues, including humanitarian access to the northern Jaffna Peninsula.

Sri Lanka’s health minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, who led the government delegation, said the government offered sea access to Jaffna, but that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had refused the offer.

He said the rebels refused to agree on a new date for talks because the government had rejected their demand that a key road be reopened to allow humanitarian supplies to be taken north.

The rebels said the sea access was inadequate to allow aid agencies to provide relief to the Tamils living in the Jaffna region.

“Closure of the A9 highway has resulted in an open prison for more than 600,000 people,” said an LTTE statement, adding that agreement to open the route was a precondition for the rebels to accept a new date for talks.

Solheim said both sides, however, had told the Norwegian mediators that they would refrain from launching any offensives.

Earlier today, a Tamil Tiger delegate warned of “serious consequences” if the island nation’s military advances while negotiations are under way.

“Our troops along the northern province defence line noticed a heavy military presence, and informants tell us they have imposed a curfew along the defence line,” the rebels’ military spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, said. “This is usually done in preparation for military operations. We are very disappointed by the actions of the government. Exploitation... for military advancement can cause serious consequences.”

Ilanthirayan did not spell out what the consequences of military action might be.

In Sri Lanka, the military said one Tamil Tiger rebel and five civilians were killed today when a bomb exploded prematurely in northern Jaffna peninsula.