Colombo - Newly elected Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse took his oath as President on Saturday.  He pledged to establish peace with the Tamil Tigers, but Rebels have declined the offer right at the outset, so it may be hard for him to bring them on the table to negotiate for peace terms.

Rajapakse won by a thin margin after over half a million minority Tamil voters expected to back the more conciliatory opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe stayed away after a boycott enforced by the rebels.

According to Peter Apps of Reuters, in the war-shattered streets of the northern government stronghold of Jaffna, hemmed in by the de facto state a 2002 truce left the Tigers, some nervous residents angry at being scared away from voting feared a return to war.
 
"I am disappointed," 59-year-old public servant Navaratnam Kutanesan told Reuters. "Even though I did not vote I expected Ranil to win. Now we have to get ready for war now Mahinda has won. His allies are all anti-Tamil. It will be a racist government."

Rajapakse allied himself to hardline Marxists and Sinhalese nationalists who detest the Tigers, but insists he wants long-term peace.

"The government is ready to review the cease-fire agreement," Rajapakse said in Sinhalese. "This process can start as soon as the relevant parties are ready. Human rights violations, such as child abduction and murder, that are happening despite the cease-fire must come to an end."

The Tigers had already warned Rajapakse against tampering with the terms of the truce, which is at its lowest ebb since the cease-fire amid sporadic attacks that culminated in the August assassination of the island's foreign minister.

"The Sinhala people and by implication the leaders they elect do not have the understanding of the basic causes of the Tamil ethnic problem," the rebels said in a strongly-worded statement issued on their official website www.1tteps.org.

"(The) international community must, at least in future, give up its stance of forcing the Tamils to do the impossible by coming to an agreement with this Sinhala nation by negotiating with them."

Analysts said all eyes would be on shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's annual November 27 Heroes' Day address, seen as his policy statement.

Picture courtesy: Mahinda Rajapakse being sworn in the new Sri Lankan President in Colombo on Saturday. Photo: Sriyantha WalpolaMahinda Rajapakse being sworn in the new Sri Lankan President in Colombo on Saturday. Photo: Sriyantha WalpolaV

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