Prisoners swap postponed by ten days

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 August 2002, 21:55 GMT]
The exchange of prisoners between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has been postponed by about ten days and it will not take place as scheduled for Saturday at Omanthai in Vavuniya, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) sources said.

Government sources said Friday that the prisoners' swap has been postponed to sort out some administrative problems. The Attorney General had also told the government that he was also facing some difficulties in this connection to obtain court approval immediately to release prisoners who have been already indicted

Prison officials said that already nineteen LTTE members who were detained at various prisons have already been brought down to Colombo magazine prison to be airlifted to Omanthai when the exchange of prisoners takes place.

Government sources, however, said the exchange of prisoners will take place before the commencement of direct peace talks at Thailand in mid September as gesture of goodwill.