Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said Wednesday that his government remains committed to holding talks with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"We remain fully committed to talking with the LTTE either directly or through a facilitator," the president told an annual UN General Assembly debate at UN headquarters.

Acknowledging that "terrorism cannot be eliminated through military means alone," Rajapakse expressed hope that the LTTE will transform itself from a "terrorist outfit" to a civilian organization.

The Sri Lankan president called on the international community to continue to extend its fullest support towards the transformation of the LTTE.

More than 64,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict since the mid-1980s. A Norwegian effort to revive the stalled direct talks has been hampered by a new upsurge of violence since the end of 2005.

Source: Xinhua