The devastating Tsunami tidal wave attack has presented Sri Lanka with a new opportunity to revive the stalled peace process with the Tamil Tiger rebels, chief of the government peace secretariat said Thursday.
Jayantha Dhanapala who heads the government peace secretariat in the Norwegian backed peace process with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the disaster had made "the prospect of going back to war even more distant".
Sri Lanka's southern and northeastern coasts were hit badly by the Dec. 26 Tsunami tidal wave attacks killing over 30,000 people.
In the rebel held areas in the north and east, the rebels said over 16,000 have been killed. "It (disaster) has provided us with a remarkable opportunity to revive the peace process", Dhanapala a former UN diplomat told reporters.
He said the rebels and the government have been working side by side in coordinating the relief operations.
The negotiations between the two sides came to be stalled in April 2003 after six rounds of direct talks.
With the present government assuming power in April last year the threat of war resuming was looming.
"Nobody wants to return to war", Dhanapala said.
More than 60,000 people were killed in the separatist war until the ongoing cease-fire came into effect in February 2002.
(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2005)
