Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels on Saturday began observing their first internationally monitored truce as hopes mounted for a permanent end to a conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Unarmed soldiers could been seen on the streets of the northern town of Vavuniya, which lies on the front line of territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as guns fell silent across Sri Lanka in line with the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire.
The formal bilateral truce went into effect on Saturday, although the LTTE had been observing a unilateral ceasefire since Christmas Eve, which the government had reciprocated.
It is the first step on the road to negotiations between the government and the LTTE, which has been fighting for an independent Tamil home land in the north and east of the Sinhalese-majority island. The chief civil administrator in Colombo, K Ganesh, said that the ceasefire agreement, which envisages confidence-building measures between the government and Tamil Tigers, will help ease the suffering of civilians.
There had been severe travel restrictions in this reign because the authorities feared Tamil Tigers could go through the city on their way to the rest of the country to carry out bombings.

Bureau Report