Monday, April 17 2006 10:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday (Apr 16, 2006) announced they were suspending participation in Swiss talks with Sri Lankan government on saving their faltering ceasefire.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they will not attend talks in Switzerland, re-scheduled by peacebroker Norway to April 24-25, until Colombo removed travel restrictions on their cadres.

"We wish to inform you with sadness that until the hurdles in front of us to attend Geneva talks are removed and a more conducive environment created, our Geneva team is unable to come to the Geneva talks," the Tigers said in a letter sent to Norway's ambassador here, Hans Brattskar.

The guerrillas, however, stopped short of pulling out of the talks altogether.

The talks were rescheduled for April 24 after they were originally due to start on April 19 and go on for three days. Later the talks were scaled down to two days.

The Tigers urged Oslo to put pressure on Colombo to implement the ceasefire which came under pressure following an upsurge in violence which the government here blames on Tigers.

The Sri Lankan government denied imposing any new restrictions on the LTTE and in turn accused the Tigers of resorting to lame excuses for scuttling the talks aimed at saving their truce.