Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers are ready for talks with the government to halt a new episode of civil war, a top rebel leader said on Tuesday, but he warned violence would spread if army offensives continued.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) pulled out of peace talks indefinitely in April and a new bout of fighting erupted in late July, killing hundreds of troops, civilians and rebels in the worst violence since a 2002 ceasefire. "The LTTE is ready for talks," Tiger political wing leader S P Thamilselvan told Reuters in an e-mail interview.
"However, the opportunities for resuming the talks will be much stronger when the Sri Lankan government ceases its military attacks and all the (truce) articles are fully respected and implemented."
Sri Lanka's military and the Tigers each accuse the other of trying to restart a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983 and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes.
More than 200,000 people have sought refuge in tented camps across the northeast in the past six weeks.
Both sides have mounted offensive operations during the latest bout of fighting. The military has captured rebel territory near the strategic northeastern port of Trincomalee and says it has overrun Tiger bunkers by the forward defence lines that separate the foes in the far north.
Diplomats and analysts see little effort from either side to defuse the renewed war, and many fear further escalation.
"If the Sri Lankan armed forces continue with their cruel war all over the Tamil homeland, and continue to put the people in the Tamil homeland in great misery, I do believe that the spread of this war to all parts of the island will be unavoidable," Thamilselvan said.
"I am afraid there is a possibility that this will turn into a full scale war," he added.
Diplomats said the Tigers' call for talks would be factored in to an emergency meeting of the island's main donors - Japan, the European Union, the United States and Norway - in Brussels later on Tuesday.
"Within the context of the military offensives by the Sri Lankan armed forces and their continuing forced occupations of the Tamil homeland, we do consider that the CFA (ceasefire agreement) has become meaningless," Thamilselvan said.
"However, since the facilitators and the international community are eager to strengthen the peace efforts, the LTTE is also continuing to examine options for strengthening the CFA," he added.
Thamilselvan said President Mahinda Rajapakse would have to rethink his stance rejecting rebel demands for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the island's north and east before the foes can reach a realistic and practical solution to the protracted ethnic conflict.
"I believe it will be meaningful if we all continue to search for opportunities to arrive at that realistic position," Thamilselvan said.
"Mahinda Rajapakse also most certainly needs to change his position. No one can deny the rights of the Tamil people. At some stage everyone must accept this."
The Tigers also insist that the government must disarm a group of former comrades led by a former rebel commander called Karuna, who broke ranks in 2004 and who they now accuse the military of helping mount attacks.
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