COLOMBO: The leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels told the Sri Lankan government that he is committed to resuming talks on ending decades of ethnic bloodshed, a minister said on Wednesday.The message from rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran could boost efforts by peace-broker Norway to arrange a meeting next month in Oslo and bring a halt to 10 months of violence that has claimed over 1,500 lives despite a 2002 truce. "We needed concrete positive commitments from the leader of the LTTE to resume talks. He has given that," Policy Planning Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also the government's chief spokesman on defence matters, told reporters.
There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE. Asked if the 51-year-old LTTE leader had given the assurance in writing or verbally through Norway, Rambukwella said: "I will tell you after I discuss it with the president." President Mahinda Rajapakse had insisted that any resumption of talks, following an aborted meeting in June, should come after Prabhakaran gives a guarantee that he is serious about negotiations and that violence must stop.