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President: Sri Lanka needs political solution to conflict |
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11:03, October 12, 2008 |
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said on Saturday that his country needed a political solution to end the nation's drawn out separatist conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.
Addressing the All Party Conference (APC) sessions, Rajapakse said "We need a political solution. There can never be a military solution for political problems."
Although the political process posed difficulties it needs to be pursued, the president said.
"Military solution is only until we defeat terrorism," referring to his government's relentless military pursuit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, Rajapakse said.
The LTTE has been fighting for a separate homeland for the island's 18 percent Tamil minority in the northern and eastern provinces.
Rajapakse's military campaign has resulted in rebels being evicted from the Eastern Province since the middle of 2006.
The military said it would only be a matter of time before the LTTE was crushed from the north as well.
The government withdrew from the Norwegian backed peace initiative of direct negotiations with the rebels in January of this year.
Since then the Rajapakse's administration has faced criticism from the international community for abandoning the political process in preference for the war effort.
The APC was convened by Rajapakse in early 2006 to try and achieve consensus among southern political parties on a possible solution to be offered to the Tamil minority.
Saturday's meeting was its seventh and the first since the early 2007.
The sessions discussed the proposals of the All Party Representatives' Committee a sub-committee under the APC.
Officials said the main opposition United National Party and the main left party JVP (People's Liberation Front) stayed away from the sessions.
Source: Xinhua
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