Pakistan, Kenya, now Sri Lanka destabilised

[TonyGosling]

Colombo ditches Tigers' ceasefire
By Joe Leahy in Mumbai - January 4 2008
Sri Lanka's war with the island's Tamil Tiger rebels entered a dangerous new phase yesterday after the government cancelled a ceasefire agreement with the group and declared that renewed peace talks would be possible only if the guerrillas disarmed first, reports Joe Leahy .
The announcement late on Wednesday follows an escalation of violence in the New Year, with renewed bomb attacks in Colombo and elsewhere and the assassination of a Tamil legislator in the capital on Monday. "The government has dropped the peace option," said Iqbal Athas, an analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly in Colombo.
Norway, which brokered the ceasefire in 2002, expressed regret at the news of its cancellation.
"I am deeply concerned that the violence and hostilities will now escalate," said Erik Solheim, Norway's environment and international development minister.
The conflict, in which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting for a separate homeland, is entering its 25th year.