WASHINGTON (AFP) — Sri Lanka said Friday it could not return to the negotiating table with the Tamil Tigers unless there was a guarantee from the rebels that they would not walk away from the talks.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) must also be prepared to compromise on its demand for a separate state in Sri Lanka's north and east, said the country's US envoy, Bernard Goonetilleke.
The LTTE wants "to establish a separate state by hook or by crook," he said at a forum in Washington.
"Against this backdrop, the question we ask from those who urge the government to seek a negotiated settlement is, are they asking us to negotiate with the LTTE once again," he said.
"If the LTTE's demand for a separate state is non-negotiable, what exactly are we going to negotiate with them?" he asked.
Goonetilleke said Colombo attempted to hold six series of talks with the Tigers over the last two decades, only to see the rebels walking out on each occasion.
Tens of thousands of people have died since the rebels launched a separatist campaign to carve out an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the majority Sinhalese nation in 1972.
Earlier this month, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse decided to pull out of a 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire with the Tigers, drawing strong concerns from top aid donors Japan, the United States, the European Union and Norway.
The powers ruled out a military solution to the conflict and maintained their stand for a negotiated settlement.
Goonetilleke asked whether the United States, if faced with a similar situation, would negotiate with the Tigers, notorious for its suicide bombings and blamed for the assassination of various political leaders, including a Sri Lankan president and a foreign minister.
"Some may even ask, if the players were different, for example, would the US negotiate with a terrorist group which has used suicide bombers to assassinate one president, nearly killed another president and assassinated several secretaries, including the secretary of state?"
The envoy called on the international community to persuade the Tigers to return to the negotiating table "and to hang in there until a satisfactory compromise is reached."
"Only such action will drive home the message that undemocratic methods of seizing power as the Tigers currently employ, are unacceptable to the civilized world," he said.
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