The Sri Lankan government has decided to formally withdraw from a cease-fire agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels. Government officials say the country's Cabinet decided to annul the 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce Wednesday, after a proposal from Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. Tamil rebels have not responded to the development.
Under the cease-fire agreement, Sri Lanka must give 14 days written notice to Norway in order to pull out. Last week, Sri Lanka's defense secretary, the president's brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, called for an end to the truce with the rebel group, saying it had been violated so many times it had become a joke. Both sides have repeatedly ignored the agreement over the past year. |