SL cabinet minister to lead truce talks

Nimal Sripala de Silva will lead the Govt's team in forthcoming talks with the LTTE, reports PK Balachandran.

Nimal Sripala de Silva, senior cabinet minister and a confidante of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, will lead the Sri Lankan government's team in the forthcoming talks with the LTTE on the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA).

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Announcing this in Colombo on Thursday, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that the rest of the team would be announced shortly by the Presidential Secretariat.

The talks, to be held in Geneva, would begin "very very soon", he said.

The Norwegian peace brokers had suggested three slots in the second half of February.

While the government had made known its preferences, the LTTE was yet to do so, he said.

"The talks would be serious, focused, and professional and not a media circus," Samaraweera said.