Sri Lanka's top army general today called for integrating Tamil Tiger guerrillas into the armed forces if Norwegian-backed peace efforts succeed.
Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle said the military should start considering how it could absorb members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) into the security forces once a final settlement to the separatist conflict is reached.
"We must start addressing this problem before we are confronted with it," Mr Balagalle said at a UNICEF-sponsored workshop to train military officers on the treatment of LTTE child combatants in military custody.
He said peace-making was more difficult than fighting, but the military backed the government's efforts to pursue negotiations to end the conflict peacefully.
Both sides are observing a truce and Norway is trying to broker a structured cessation of hostilities ahead of face-to-face talks.
However, Mr Balagalle said, the military was ready to fight in the event of the peace process breaking down, but must be ready to assimilate combatants into civil society. With a possible winding down of the separatist war in the island, government forces will be offered for United Nations peace keeping operations overseas, Mr Balagalle said.
"We hope to send out our first batch of soldiers on a UN mission by August," he told AFP.
AFP