Berlin, Feb 08: Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebel negotiators met today to wrap up a fresh round of peace talks after overcoming a crisis over a rebel suicide blast.

"It was very fortunate that we were here for peace talks at the time, or the incident could have had a damaging effect," government negotiator Milinda Moragoda told the Associated Press. "What's important is that the talks are on and progress has been made."

Two Norwegian truce monitors and a female interpreter were forced to jump over board when they inspected a rebel boat and discovered an anti-aircraft gun, an AK-47, ammunition and grenades being smuggled into the country. The three rebels onboard set fire to the boat and blew themselves up just hours before peace talks opened in Berlin on Thursday.
Swift mediation by Norwegian peace brokers allowed talks to resume undeterred, with the negotiators making unexpected progress at the table.

The two sides agreed to entrust a former head of Amnesty International, Ian Martin, with drafting a human rights document that will become part an overall settlement of the war.


The rebels made a fresh commitment to stop child recruitment. They have been accused of using children as young as 12 to fight in the two-decade civil war, which has left nearly 65,000 people dead and displaced another 1.6 million.
The two sides also agreed to let UNICEF supervise a joint government-rebel programme to rehabilitate child soldiers by helping them to reintegrate into their families and community.

Bureau Report