Sri Lanka vowed yesterday to persevere in efforts for a negotiated peace with Tamil Tiger rebels while maintaining military pressure, which the government said is bringing results.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Sri Lanka's military had rooted out Tiger rebels from the east of the country in operations that complement efforts to negotiate a solution to the long-running conflict.
"With the exception of a few jungle hideouts, most of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, which was until recently terrorized by the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] has been rid of this menace," Bogollagama told the Shangri-La Dialogue of senior Asian defence and security officials and experts.
The LTTE's 35-year campaign for independence has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
"We see no contradiction in dealing firmly with the scourge of terrorism perpetrated by the LTTE, even as the government of Sri Lanka seeks to evolve a consensus for a negotiated political settlement to the armed conflict," he said.
That is why the government sought in recent months to battle the Tigers, "to convince the group that it cannot expect to achieve a military victory," he said.
Government troops and rebels have been locked in combat following the breakdown of a 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce.
Official sources in Sri Lanka said yesterday the rebels had launched a major attack on a military gun position in the country's north, wounding at least 15 soldiers.
Security forces were keeping up air, ground and sea attacks against the Tigers in the island's northern and eastern regions.
"There is no offensive by the government," Bogollagama told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. "We are only trying to have a limited engagement when it is needed ... The government never fired the first bullet."
On Friday, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse offered to open peace negotiations but the rebels have insisted they would not resume peace talks unless the government halted military action.
Rajapakse would enter negotiations with the rebels if they agreed to resume where they left off in October, his spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage said.
"I am a total democrat and I believe in a peaceful negotiated settlement," he quoted the president as saying.
Bogollagama reiterated the government was ready to talk.
"We have said so and we are saying it now. We will continue to engage LTTE at talks and we will expect them to respond and come early for talks," he said.
In his speech to the conference, Bogollagama called the Tigers a threat to shipping in the Indian Ocean and appealed for global action against the guerrilla group.
He said the LTTE were one of the few "terrorist organizations" in the world with a proven maritime capability.
Along with their Sea Tigers naval combat unit, they owned a substantial number of ships which carry out traditional trading and also smuggled military hardware, he said, accusing them of "numerous acts of maritime terrorism."
A top Sri Lankan defense official told reporters in Singapore that authorities had foiled a potentially devastating attack on Colombo when they intercepted a truck laden with 1,052kg of explosives on Friday.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS