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LTTE dismisses government’s two-day ceasefire as insincere
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Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have dismissed the government’s announcement of a two-day cease-fire as insincere and called for a permanent, internationally arranged truce.
But Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said Tuesday the cease-fire is ‘unlikely’ to be extended by the president and asked the rebels to allow civilians to move out.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the military to halt its offensives against the cornered rebels for the Sri Lankan new year. The cease-fire expires Tuesday.
A Tamil rebel statement Tuesday called the government’s truce an ‘act of hoodwinking’ and said a “ceasefire under the auspices of the international community alone, will be effective and productive.”