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Sri Lanka PM focuses on ending civil war
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-30 09:22
Sri Lanka's prime minister, now a high-profile candidate in presidential
elections to be held later this year, said Monday his top priority would be to
end the civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels.
Mahinda Rajapakse, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he would
even be willing to be the first Sri Lankan president to meet the rebels'
secretive leader.
"I am willing to walk an extra mile to reach (the) goal of peace," he said.
The presidential elections, which must be held before Nov. 22, are coming at
one of the most tense times in Sri Lanka since an 2002 cease-fire brought a halt
to fighting between the government and the Tigers.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister and presidential
candidate of the ruling coalition government Mahinda Rajapakse smiles
during an interview with The Associated Press in Colombo, Sri Lanka,
Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. [AP] | The peace process is stalled. A split in the Tigers in March 2004 ushered in
months of killings between the main rebel group and a breakaway faction. And the
Aug. 12 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar 錕斤拷 blamed on the
rebels 錕斤拷 led to the imposition of a state of emergency.
The Tigers have denied any role in the assassination and appealed for the
emergency to be lifted, saying it poses a threat to the peace process.
Rajapakse, the candidate of the ruling People's Alliance, said nothing on how
long the emergency should last, but stressed that he was committed to the peace
process.
"I am not for war, I am totally against war," Rajapakse said during the
interview at his fortified residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital.
The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for minority
Tamils, who are mainly Hindus and account for about 3.2 million of Sri Lanka's
19 million people, claiming discrimination by the largely Buddhist Sinhalese,
who number about 14 million people and dominate the military and police.
The rebels waged a bloody campaign for nearly two decades. They were among
the first modern groups to use suicide bombings, killing numerous officials,
including late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and Sri Lankan
President Ranasinghe Premadasa two years later.
On the government side, human rights groups repeatedly accused the police and
military of torturing suspected rebels during the war.
Nearly 65,000 people were killed in the war before a 2002 cease-fire largely
stopped the fighting. But subsequent peace talks broke down over the rebels'
demand for greater autonomy in the country's north and east, where the Tamils
are concentrated.
The president's race will pit Rajapakse against opposition candidate Ranil
Wickremesinghe, who signed the 2002 cease-fire with the Tigers and started peace
talks during his tenure as prime minister from 2001 to 2004.
Some leaders in Rajapakse's People's Alliance, including President Chandrika
Kumaratunga, have taken a harder line against the rebels 錕斤拷 a policy that has
wide support among the Sinhalese majority.
But Rajapakse is not considered as hard-line as Kumaratunga, and he insisted
Monday "that all of us agree that the war must end forever."
Rajapakse set only one condition for the peace process: a time limit.
Since the peace process began in 2002, critics have accused the Tigers of
dragging the process out so they could regroup and rearm.
But Rajapakse did not say how long a time limit he would ask for if elected.
Rajapakse has held different ministries under Kumaratunga, and was appointed
prime minister after his return to power in the 2004 parliamentary
election.
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