Sri Lanka Pulls Out of Cease-Fire Deal

[tekisui]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Sri Lanka's government officially notified peace-broker Norway on Thursday that it is pulling out of a 2002 cease-fire agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels that has failed to quell the violence.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama handed a letter to Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem, saying the government has decided to terminate the Norway-brokered agreement, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The government has said growing violence in the last two years has rendered the agreement irrelevant.

Upon hearing Wednesday of the government's plan to end the truce, Norway said the violence raging in Sri Lanka would likely worsen.

``This comes on top of the increasingly frequent and brutal acts of violence perpetrated by both parties, and I am deeply concerned that the violence and hostilities will now escalate even further,'' said Erik Solheim, a key mediator in the decades-old civil war.

``This would weaken efforts to protect the civilian population, which would be most regrettable,'' Solheim was quoted as saying on the Norwegian Foreign Ministry's Web site late Wednesday.

The truce becomes invalid from Jan. 16, two weeks after the handing of the notice to the Norwegians.

more at link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7195836,00.html