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Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Thursday rejected Norway's proposal to make Colombo International Airport the venue for talks with the government to review the cease-fire agreement.
S. P. Tamilselvan, political wing leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was quoted Thursday by its official website www.ltteps.org as saying that the airport "can not be a venue for meaningful political discussions."
Tamilselvan told a Norway delegation in the rebel held northern town of Kilinochchi that the venue of the talks should be "equally comfortable for both the parties," according to the website.
The Norwegian government proposed Wednesday the airport as the only possible venue for the talks because it is in Sri Lanka and the airport is also a transit point when the LTTE members travel out of the country.
The Sri Lankan government said Wednesday that it agreed with Norway's proposal to hold talks at the airport.
The government and the LTTE agreed to meet over a Norwegian-mediated cease-fire agreement after the assassination of the country's foreign minister in August by suspected rebels, but have been unable to agree on a venue.
The government has insisted talks be held in Sri Lanka, possibly in a no-man's land, while the LTTE wanted either to hold the talks in their northern stronghold Kilinochchi or have them at a neutral venue abroad.
Norway brokered a truce between the government and the LTTE in 2002, but talks between the two parties have been stalled since April 2003.
(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2005)
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