CELIGNY (Switzerland), Feb 22: Sri Lanka’s warring parties ended a three-year deadlock in peace efforts by meeting on Wednesday at a peaceful Swiss chateau, but their ice-breaking talks got off to a rocky start.
Sri Lanka’s new government and Tamil Tiger rebels sat down to talk about saving a moribund ceasefire that marks its fourth anniversary on Thursday, but violence back home and queries on the legality of the truce marred the first round.
“Let us keep expectations at a realistic level,” Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim told reporters at the talks’ venue, the Chateau de Bossey in this village near Geneva.—AFP
