Tigers put off truce talks amid fresh violence

Apr. 20 (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels announced Thursday that they were indefinitely postponing peace talks aimed at saving a truce with Colombo as four more people were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka.

- Amal Jayasinghe The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer that talks scheduled for April 24 in Switzerland cannot take place until the situation improves.

Hanssen-Bauer briefed top government representatives here after his meeting with the Tigers, officials said.

Details of the discussions were not immediately known.

"Until a stable and conducive environment is created, we will not be able to attend the talks," the group's political wing leader S.

P. Thamilselvan was quoted as saying on the LTTE's Nitharsanam website.

He said Colombo must implement what was promised during the first round of talks in Switzerland in February, especially regarding the Tigers' demands that Colombo disarm rival Tamil militants and a breakaway Tiger faction.

"Until the government implements what was agreed to in Geneva, including the disarming of paramilitaries, the violence will not stop," Thamilselvan said.

"Geneva talks are not possible until a stable situat