Colombo: Efforts to save the troubled ceasefire in Sri Lanka failed on Saturday after LTTE rebels refused to meet foreign peace envoys.
Ulf Henricsson, the head of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission, and a Norwegian diplomat returned to Colombo without meeting rebel leaders in the LTTE-held Kilinochchi.
"Henricsson returned to Colombo on Saturday morning after spending overnight in Kilinochchi," a diplomat said. The LTTE insisted on helicopter rides to transport its field commanders from the island nation’s east to north for consultations ahead of attending ceasefire talks with the Sri Lankan government in Geneva.
Tigers want rides in military copters and rejected a compromise offer of private helicopter rides. The Tigers put off talks, initially due to start on April 19, by five days. Later they said they had indefinitely postponed their participation until the transport issue was resolved.
Two Sri Lankan army soldiers, including an officer, were killed and six others injured on Saturday in two mine explosions blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels.
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