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Talks must be based on the ISA - TNA informs Akashi

"The Japanese special envoy expressed his view that peace must be brought about somehow and that everyone should get involved earnestly in this task"

"We welcome this. Especially the Tamil people of northeast have yearned for peace for a very long time. We pointed out to the special envoy that peace efforts have stagnated. We also pointed out to him that instead of taking forward the peace efforts, according to our reading, the government is more concerned about deciding whether to hold, a Presidential elections or a countrywide referendum to choose the next President. We pointed out that peace efforts have stagnated because of serious differences inside the governing coalition on this issue. This situation must not be allowed to continue."

"Due this stagnation in the peace efforts Tamil people will continue to endure more hardship. There is no administrative structure with adequate power in place that is capable of ensuring that the essential needs of the Tamil people are met.It is only after talks are restarted on the basis of ISGA and an interim structure is put in place to bring about normalcy to northeast, the confidence necessary to take forward the peace efforts further can be established. We requested the special envoy to use his government's influence to bring this about."

"Until there is progress in the peace efforts Japan and the rest of the international community will be cautious about giving aid. In other words aid will be strictly related to progress in peace talks. We have explained to the envoy that this condition should continue to be in place. We also informed him that Mangala Samaweera's statement that the peace talks will resume next month has no substance."

29 October 2004

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