BATTICALOA, April 15: The Tamil Tigers said on Saturday they were pulling out of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, triggering fears the island could plunge back into a two-decade old civil war.

The Tigers said their withdrawal from scheduled talks in Geneva aimed at saving a faltering 2002 ceasefire was due to problems with the requested safe-conduct transport of rebel commanders.

The Tigers were concerned about Sri Lankan navy plans to monitor a boat that was to have taken the commanders based in the east and their Nordic escorts on Saturday to the Tigers’ northern base, the head of the Tiger peace secretariat said.

“It is very important we meet our commanders,” S. Puleedevan said. “We have cancelled the transport. If we cannot meet them, Geneva is off.”

Swedish Major-General Ulf Henricsson, head of the unarmed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission tasked with monitoring the truce, said the Tigers had agreed to allow the navy to monitor the rebel vessel from a distance.

If the rebels did not know that, they had not read the paperwork properly, he said.

“I’m worried about the situation for Sri Lankan people of all ethnic groups,” Henricsson told reporters.—Reuters