A decision by Sri Lanka's president to quit as leader of the ruling alliance could be a goodwill gesture towards Tamil rebels, analysts said on Thursday, but the government's position on peace talks remained murky.
Analysts said the resignation was a way for President Chandrika Kumaratunga to distance herself from the People's Liberation Front (JVP) wing of her minority coalition, which takes a harder line on the separatist rebels.
"It's probably about party politics involving the JVP. She feels stuck - she can't get rid of them, but this is the only way she can distance herself," said one Western diplomat.
Kumaratunga's party and the JVP came together before April elections to form the United People's Freedom Alliance. The alliance won a minority mandate at the polls, but the two sides have openly bickered over their stance on resuming talks to end the island's 21-year civil war.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been demanding talks - which stalled in April 2003 - be based on their proposal for interim self-rule in the north and east, where they have been fighting for a separate state for minority Tamils.
Kumaratunga's party says it is amenable to talks on some kind of interim arrangement, but the JVP says it will only agree to talks if they are linked to a final settlement to the war that has killed more than 64,000 people.
"The position of the JVP is that an interim agreement can be implemented only after a final settlement to the ethnic problem has been reached," Agriculture Minister and JVP member Anura Dissanayake told a news conference.
"The LTTE has been killing unarmed political opponents and members of the government intelligence agencies. This is not the way to establish an environment for peace talks," he said.
But cabinet spokesman Mangala Samaraweera, who belongs to Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party, said the government was formulating its own proposals for talks. "In these proposals we want to talk about development, we want to talk about reconstruction, we want to talk about humanitarian aid and we want to talk about an interim solution which will hopefully lead to durable, permanent peace," he said.
The Tigers have yet to comment on the latest signals from the government, but they have expressed frustration with its lack of consistency and said they distrust its motives.
Despite the long absence of talks and a recent increase in violence, both sides say they remain committed to the island's February 2002 cease-fire.