Sri Lankan leader in peace offer

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/6346509.stm

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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse says the door is still open for talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, even though he described them as terrorists.

In recent months, Sri Lanka's armed forces have driven the rebels from much of the east of the country.

Sri Lanka has been sliding towards all out war, despite a 2002 ceasefire.

The president said the rebels should lay down their arms and begin talks. If they continued to fight, he said, the military would act in self-defence.

Mr Rajapakse was speaking in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

Devolve power

The president said it was his duty to liberate the population from the areas of Sri Lanka under Tamil Tiger control.

The president said there was no military solution

But Mr Rajapakse said in the long-term he did not believe in a military solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka and he would try to resolve it politically.

"You can negotiate with people but not with terrorists," he said.

The president also referred to how his government funds infrastructure in areas under Tamil Tiger control.

"I'm trying to negotiate with terrorists for the first time and I'm feeding them. Even now I am feeding them. I am giving them medicine, I am giving them food, I am giving them all that.

"Education, teachers are sent by me, doctors are sent by me and paid by our government. I'm making their roads - so I'm doing that all."

Giant neighbour

President Rajapakse said he was prepared to devolve power to the provinces as part of a settlement, as long as Sri Lanka remains one unitary country.

The president said he was on a 'liberation' mission

"The Tigers must take up our solution and must lay down their arms and negotiate with us," he said.

"If they don't attack us, if they don't kill anybody - then we may have peace, but if they do that we have to react for self-defence."

He called for India, the giant neighbour to the north, to do more to help.

He said that historic close ties between the two countries, people's culture and traditions meant India was in a position to do more than any other nation to end the conflict.