December 17, 2000

  The LTTE has, as expected, refused to start peace talks without a ceasefire. The government has the LTTE on the ropes and knows that a ceasefire would simply allow the LTTE to rebuild their battered armed forces. The government refuses to offer any ceasefire or scaled back operations. The LTTE are now working on the world media to generate sympathy for their ceasefire demand. It will be difficult for the LTTE to obtain a lot of sympathy, as many nations consider them terrorists, and others (like Britain) are considering doing so.