SRI LANKA: The reclusive leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas was sentenced to 200 years' jail yesterday, as government and rebel officials began talks in Thailand to try to end 19 years of war.
The two sides met in a palm-lined resort west of Bangkok but attention switched back to Colombo when the High Court convicted Velupillai Prabhakaran and four others in absentia for their roles in the 1996 suicide bombing that blew up Sri Lanka's central bank, killing nearly 100 people.
"They should be taken into custody immediately," Judge Sarath Ambeypitiya said.
It was not known if the conviction would have any impact on the peace talks, but it highlights the issue of blame the negotiators are expected to tackle at some point.
It is also a reminder that Prabhakaran turned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam into one of the world's most ferocious guerrilla forces, known for trademark suicide attacks and vows its followers make to bite a cyanide pill to avoid capture alive.
It could make it harder for people to meet the rebel leader, who was convicted in absentia in India for masterminding the 1991 murder of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
No formal statement on the Norwegian-brokered peace talks was expected until the final day on Sunday.
"It will mostly be aid issues - rehabilitation and demining - and security problems in the east," a Western diplomat said of the talks, which follow an initial round in Thailand last month.
The Tigers, who say Tamils are discriminated against by the island's Sinhalese majority, have been fighting for a separate state in the north and east since 1983.
But with a truce holding since February, the presence of Norway as a facilitator and both sides facing empty coffers, the talks are seen as the best chance yet to end the conflict that has left more than 64,000 dead and stifled development.
Despite bumps, sentiment in the island remains supportive of the peace process.