A possible agreement between the Sri Lankan government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels would receive "support" from the main Sri Lankan opposition party, former premier Ranil Wickramasinghe said Thursday, dpa reported. However, the responsibility for reaching an agreement was "up to the government and the LTTE," Wickramsinghe told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa on the sidelines of a meeting organized by the Stockholm- based Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). The leader of the United National Party (UNP) was premier when the current ceasefire, brokered by Norway, was adopted in February 2002. In remarks at the IDEA meeting, Wickramsinghe said the peace process later halted over differences between the then president Chandrika Kumaratunga and himself, but also that Tamil voters did not go to the polls in the north and east of the country controlled by the LTTE in the 2005 presidential elections. Wickramsinghe said the current Colombo "government has to take a single line" with regards to the peace process, and welcomed the support of the international community for its efforts. --More 20 15 Local Time 17 15 GMT
