Lankans fight on as talks winding up

Geneva: Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels were due to end talks in Geneva on Sunday with little more than a pledge to meet again as sporadic fighting continued back home.

The sides, whose ethnic conflict has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983, met for their first face-to-face talks in eight months amid a resurgence of violence on the island of 20 million people.

As talks entered a second and final day on Sunday, the foes fought artillery and mortar bomb duels in the northern Jaffna peninsula, in which three soldiers were wounded.

The military also said five civilians were killed in the peninsula when a mine being a suspected rebel was carrying on a bicycle accidentally exploded, killing him too.

There have been hundreds of killings since July despite a tattered 2002 ceasefire. "We are looking for continuation of dialogue," government negotiator Palitha Kohona said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east, has threatened to shun future talks if Colombo does not agree to open the main highway to the Jaffna peninsula.

It was closed in August due to fighting, choking supplies and leading to more hardship for residents.

"We took up the humanitarian crisis in Jaffna as the urgent priority issue but the Sri Lankan government was not prepared to relieve the population from the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe," S P Thamilselvan, chief LTTE negotiator, told pro-rebel website.

He was referring to the first day of talks. The government accused the Tigers of indulging in an "exercise in cynicism" by focusing on the highway. "We had asked them for assurances of safe passage to ships (to Jaffna) which they have refused to give," said Kohona, who heads the government's peace secretariat.

A source close to the talks told Reuters there was little progress, with mediator Norway talking to both sides separately to seek common ground. The sticking point remained the road, which the government was against fully reopening.

As both sides were talking, the Tigers accused the government of preparing for a possible offensive across the frontline where the artillery duels were being fought.

The military said it was responding to LTTE fire and denied rebel claims it was building up strength near the front. The UN said supplies needed to get to affected people fast. The latest surge in violence has displaced thousands of people.

"Not enough food is moving. It is an extremely vulnerable situation," said UNICEF's mission head in Sri Lanka, Joanna Van Gerpen.