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COLOMBO, Nov 9 (IPS) - An early November mediation bid by Norway to end Sri Lanka's 17-year-old internal conflict, was floundering Thursday with the government showing its coolness to the offer of peace talks by Tamil Tiger rebels. In the first official reaction to the offer conveyed through a Norwegian mediator, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said she did not trust the rebels, but added that her government would, nevertheless, consider it. ''We need to be sure that this is not another rebel ruse. We have always extended a hand of peace, but the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) has rejected it. We will, however, check out this new offer,'' she told Sri Lanka's new parliament, which met Thursday for the first time after last month's national election. The president was responding to the offer made by the Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran when he met Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim Nov. 1 in the rebels' stronghold in the north of the Indian Ocean island nation. This was the first time in years that the elusive LTTE leader met a mediator and hopes were raised by the meeting. Peace talks between the government and the LTTE were last held in 1995. The Tigers are carrying out a violent campaign for a separate home for Sri Lanka's minority Tamil people in the country's north and eastern regions, alleging discrimination by the majority Sinhala community. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the violence, which erupted in the early 1980s. According to a statement issued by the Tigers, Prabhakaran is ready to talk with the government subject to certain conditions. These include the lifting of an economic embargo and withdrawal of government troops from civilian areas in the north and the east. However, the Norwegians denied that any preconditions were set for the talks. The Norwegian peace bid is backed by India, the European Union and the United States. Norway has been trying for the past year to start talks between Colombo and the rebels, but mediation efforts have been bogged down by an escalation in the fighting between government troops and rebels since April. Kumaratunga told lawmakers that the government would continue with the military assault against the rebels, but also try to find a peaceful political solution to the ethnic crisis at the same time. Her comments drew mixed views from political analysts. Some said the president had failed to seize the chance to announce confidence- building measures to draw support from the Tamil community, which has been disappointed with Kumaratunga's handling of the ethnic issue. ''Her guarded response is understandable given the rebels' behaviour in the past. But she could have opened the doors a little by offering some concessions or confidence-building steps at least to get the Tamil civilians on her side,'' said leading political commentator Jehan Perera. However, other analysts like Keethesh Loganathan of Colombo's Centre for Policy Alternatives, think Kumaratunga's response was justified. ''I would have expected her not to offer too much support to the rebel offer, considering the pitfalls of the past. The fact that she was considering the offer but not making any commitments is quite a reasonable thing to do,'' he said. Political analysts agree that it would not be easy for Kumaratunga to find a political solution to the ethnic conflict. Her People's Alliance (PA) party has cobbled together a fragile coalition government with smaller minority parties after the polls failed to yield a clear winner. The session of the new parliament opened amidst tight security with thousands of troops and police lining roads leading to the legislature building. The rebels have launched a string of attacks, mostly through suicide bombers, in the capital in recent months. Kumaratunga insisted the government had not shut the doors to peace talks with the rebels, but said the LTTE ''should give a positive response to the best democratic alternative (presented by the government) for the sharing of power within a single united country. ''We shall consider it as our duty not to close any doors or place any obstacles in the way of such a positive response,'' she told parliament. The government wants to confer a large measure of self-rule on the Tamil majority areas, but its constitutional reforms package has been stalled by opposition from the influential Buddhist clergy and major opposition parties. ''The government should be practical and magnanimous enough to accept the offer for talks after necessary verifications as to the genuineness of the offer,'' said the independent newspaper 'Daily Mirror'. Though it was possible that the rebels were using this as a ploy to get the government to scale down the military assault on them, this should not deter a positive response, as the country was facing a grave crisis, the daily added. However, the state-owned 'Daily News' cautioned that Prabhakaran's conditions were ''the same old tune the LTTE has been playing throughout. ''(Former president) Ranasinghe Premadasa fell for this, hook, line and sinker, gave in to all Prabhkaran's demands and finally paid with his life,'' the paper said. Premadasa was slain by a suspected Tamil rebel suicide bomber in May 1993, a few years after he reopened talks with the rebels that ended inconclusively. In her parliamentary address, Kumaratunga vowed to push ahead with the constitutional reforms that would confer a large measure of autonomy on Sri Lanka's provinces. ''We can't wait for 100 percent support from the community. Under a democracy, no one gets 100 percent support. Democratic principles are such that it is the verdict of the vast majority of the people that matters,'' she said. In August, the government tabled the constitutional reforms in parliament, but subsequently withdrew these because of lack of support from the main opposition United National Party (UNP). The rebels too have rejected the autonomy package. The UNP has said it backs peace talks with the rebels, but has urged the government to reconcile differences within the ruling party on tackling the insurgency. The opposition party was referring to the contradictions in statements by Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. While the former insists that the military campaign does not rule out peace talks, the latter has said that the rebels should be defeated before talks can begin.
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