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Sri Lanka president-elect wants peace talks
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-19 00:44
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, elected the new
president of Sri Lanka by a slim margin, said Friday he wanted to hold
face-to-face peace talks with the secretive leader of the rebel Tamil Tigers in
an effort to end two decades of civil war.
Prime Minister and winner of the tightly
contested presidential elections Mahinda Rajapakse greets supporters as he
enters the office of the Election Commissioner to accept the result of the
presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Nov. 18, 2005.
Rajapakse won the presidential elections by a slim margin, and said Friday
that once in office he wants to hold face-to-face peace talks with the
secretive leader of the rebel Tamil Tigers.
[AP] |
Throughout the campaign, Rajapakse took a hard line on the rebels, and his
victory in Thursday's vote clearly was aided by a Tiger boycott that kept
thousands of minority Tamils, who overwhelmingly supported his dovish opponent,
away from the polls.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Rajapakse said he wanted to hold
talks with Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
It is a pledge that Rajapakse made throughout the campaign, but one that may
be easier said than done — Prabhakaran rarely sees anyone outside a tight inner
circle and makes only a single public appearance a year on Heroes' Day, a Tiger
holiday honoring guerillas killed in the civil war.
Still, asked about his plans for Sri Lanka's stalled
peace process, Rajapakse said: "I am ready to talk to the (Tigers), and I am
ready to meet Prabhakaran."
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