Sri Lankan rebels extend cease-fire

From Kasra Naji
CNN

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Tamil Tiger rebels have extended a unilateral cease-fire for another month, furthering hopes for the success of peace talks with the country's government.

The Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting Sri Lankan government forces for a measure of autonomy, said they have extended their monthlong cease-fire, due to expire Thursday, as a gesture of peace.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, or LTTE, as the group is known, said the cease-fire extension will take effect at midnight Thursday.

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Both sides in the Sri Lankan civil war have asked the Norwegian government to help facilitate peace talks, which are expected in March. Norway has not responded to the request yet.

On Christmas Eve, the Tiger rebels announced a unilateral cease-fire, which the Sri Lankan government promptly reciprocated. A similar gesture ended in failure a year ago after the rebel group demanded the government lift its ban on the organization before any peace talks could take place.

But the newly elected government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has brought a renewed sense of optimism. Wickremesinghe won the December 5 election, giving his party 114 of 219 parliamentary seats and a mandate to bring peace to the Indian Ocean island.

More than 20 years of civil war in Sri Lanka has left 64,000 people dead. Last week, the Sri Lankan government eased its nearly 13-year-old economic embargo against rebel-held areas in the north of the country as a goodwill gesture.

For their part, the rebels are considering reopening the A-9 highway, which winds through rebel-held territory and connects most of the island with the northern Jaffna peninsula.