SRI LANKA'S GOVERNMENT IS STILL COMMITTED TO A 2002 PEACE PROCESS WITH TAMIL TIGER (LTTE) REBELS DESPITE AN INCREASINGLY SHAKY CEASEFIRE, FOREIGN MINISTER MANGALA SAMARAWEERA SAID ON MONDAY, ACCORDING TO REUTERS. PEACE MEDIATOR NORWAY WROTE TO BOTH SIDES LAST WEEK ASKING FOR CONFIRMATION THEY WERE COMMITTED TO THE PROCESS AFTER TALKS IN OSLO ON THE SAFETY OF NORDIC CEASEFIRE MONITORS COLLAPSED LAST WEEK WITHOUT THE TWO SIDES EVER MEETING. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST FACE-TO-FACE MEETING BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM (LTTE) SINCE GENEVA PEACE TALKS STALLED IN FEBRUARY. "OUR GOVERNMENT IS FIRMLY COMMITTED TO PEACE AND COMMITTED TO A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT, (AND) OUR FRIENDS HERE IN NORWAY WILL CONTINUE WITH US IN OUR SEARCH FOR AN HONOURABLE PEACE," SAMARAWEERA TOLD REPORTERS AFTER MEETING HIS NORWEGIAN COUNTERPART IN OSLO. THEIR MEETING WAS A LONG-STANDING ARRANGEMENT AND FOCUSED ON BILATERAL LINKS RATHER THAN THE PEACE PROCESS IN SRI LANKA'S 20-YEAR CIVIL WAR, WHICH HAS KILLED AROUND 65,000 PEOPLE.
