The Hindu : Front Page : Colombo rejects deal to end `water war'

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Monday, Aug 07, 2006

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Colombo rejects deal to end `water war'

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Brief prospects of an early end to the `water war' between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came to nought on Sunday evening after Colombo rejected a deal negotiated by Norway and bombed LTTE positions at the site of a waterway. Under the deal brokered by Norway earlier in the day, the Tamil Tigers conditionally agreed to lift the blockade of a waterway in the east.

The nearly two-week bloody battle, the first since the Norwegian-brokered 2002 ceasefire agreement and the split in the LTTE, claimed an estimated 150 to 500 lives and displaced nearly 50,000 people.

The LTTE's decision to end the water blockade came after the Norwegian Special Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer visited Kilinochchi and conveyed certain assurances to the LTTE leadership. Mr. Bauer is here to de-escalate the tensions and discuss the future of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

However, Sri Lanka rejected the deal worked out by Norway with the LTTE on the ground that there could be no compromise on water, and access to the site by its engineers was non-negotiable.

Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said the Government was not involved in Norway's talks with the LTTE. "We do not want terrorists to come and open the water way. They must simply allow irrigation engineers to do it, otherwise we will open it anyway," Mr. Rambukwella said.

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