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Colombo, LTTE to work out rights schedule

By V.S. Sambandan

NAKORN PATHOM (Thailand) Jan. 9. With the fourth session of Sri Lanka's peace talks taking on less-contentious, humanitarian issues, what was expected to be the ``toughest'' session ended here with Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) maintaining their cordiality and agreeing to look at a number of issues relating to human rights.

A statement, at the end of the talks, by the Norwegian facilitators said that the two sides consented to work out a ``schedule on human rights'' with the assistance of an ``agreed human rights adviser''.

Last February's ceasefire agreement, signed separately by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the LTTE leader, V. Prabakaran, has meant just two casualties for the Government's armed forces during the last year. However, two decades of war have taken the toll of an estimated 60,000 lives, with contested figures on those Missing in Action (MIA). Against this backdrop, the two sides have also agreed to set up an ``independent verification mechanism'' for the MIAs and involuntary disappearances, ``with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In view of the complaints on the violations of the 11-month bilateral ceasefire, the two sides also agreed to hold ``monthly meetings'' with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) ``to discuss issues arising'' from the regular summaries of the SLMM on the complaints of violations.

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