The Hindu : Peace negotiators face uphill task

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2002

International

International

Peace negotiators face uphill task

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO. DEC. 9. The Sri Lankan peace negotiators will face an uphill task from next month, when they start discussing political power-sharing methods in the fourth round of talks between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) early January.

Terming the decision taken by the Tigers and the Government at the recently-concluded Oslo talks to explore a federal model as having set the ``outer perimeter'' for the conflict-resolution process, the head of Colombo's delegation, G.L.Peiris, told a press conference here that the next round would take the process further and discuss issues related to "division of power'' and "human rights.''

The power-sharing details, he said, would have to be discussed and the two sides would consider all models available from countries that had an experience in sharing of powers.

Prof. Peiris, one of the architects of the Kumaratunga Draft Constitution, which envisaged wide-ranging power sharing, said nothing would be excluded in the proposed discussions.

The negotiation process, he said, had gained a "clear trajectory'' after the Oslo talks.

"We are now agreed on the basic framework. These go to the very root of the problem.''

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