Colombo, Oct 16: Sri Lanka's troubled peace talks are likely to be put off till early next year as the government will be preoccupied with the national budget, a senior minister said today. However, a round of preliminary discussions could be held either by November or December, the government's chief peace negotiator G L Peiris told reporters here.
"There could be a preliminary discussion on things like the venue and dates sometime in November or early December," Peiris said adding the government will be pre-occupied with the budget vote running up to December 18. Official sources said the next round of full peace talks could be held early next year, after almost a 10-month break since the last round of negotiations at Hakone.
Last week, the Tigers wrapped up internal talks with their legal experts in Ireland hoping to present their power-sharing plan by the end of this month, diplomats said.
Tigers' meeting in Ireland followed a similar parley in Paris in August to prepare a counter proposal to the Colombo government's July 17 offer of limited autonomy in the embattled areas ahead of a final settlement. The Tigers pulled out of peace talks in April after accusing the government of failing to deliver on promises made at six rounds of negotiations since September last year.
The Tigers have made the setting up of an interim administrative structure with them being given a lion's share a pre condition to resume the Norwegian-brokered peace negotiations.
Both sides had agreed in December to adopt a federal formula to end the island's drawn out conflict, which has claimed over 60,000 lives in the past three decades. Bureau Report