President visits formerly rebel-held territory, invites guerrillas to talks

(4 Feb 2007) ++QUALITY AS INCOMING++ 1. President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse getting out of helicopter 2. Rajapakse walking away from helicopter accompanied by army commanders 3. Rajapakse getting into an armoured vehicle 4. Wide of Vakarai hospital as armoured column drives past 5. Various shots of armoured column driving along road 6. Rajapakse getting out of armoured vehicle 7. Various of Rajapakse speaking with soldiers 8. Various of Rajapakse inspecting weapons captured from the Tamil Tigers 9. Wide of Rajapakse speaking to special forces soldiers 10. Close-up of special forces soldier with Rajapakse standing in background 11. Soldiers watching Rajapakse speaking 12. Various of Rajapakse talking to Tamil civilians 13. Rajapakse giving gifts to displaced civilians 14. Rajapakse hugging Tamil baby 15. Rajapakse walking down road 16. Wide of new police station 17. Various of police and military personnel waiting to see Rajapakse 18. Rajapakse walking through crowd 19. Rajapakse waving from in front of building recently captured from the Tamil Tigers 20. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahinda Rajapakse, President of Sri Lanka: "Now it is high time that they should surrender their arms and come to the negotiating table" 21. Cutaway 22. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahinda Rajapakse, President of Sri Lanka: "We are having a political solution as soon as possible. I have appointed a committee. We have tried to talk to them. They walked out." 23. Rajapakse walking away STORYLINE Sri Lanka's president visited areas on Saturday that were captured just weeks ago from Tamil Tiger separatists and immediately invited the guerrillas to talk peace again. "Now it is high time that they should surrender their arms and come to the negotiating table," President Mahinda Rajapakse told reporters in Vaharai, a hamlet captured from rebels last month after three months of fighting. "We are having a political solution as soon as possible," he said There was no immediate response from the Tigers to Rajapakse's fresh peace overtures, and phone lines to their northern stronghold were out. A rebel leader had previously dismissed the president's call for disarmament as a "joke." Accompanied by army, navy and air force commanders and top defence officials, Rajapakse flew in a helicopter to Vaharai, part of a seaside stretch held by the Tigers for 11 years. In Vaharai, a village in Batticaloa district some 220 kilometres (140 miles) east of the capital, Colombo, Rajapakse travelled in an armoured personnel carrier as soldiers carrying machine pistols stood guard every few metres (yards). Rifles and anti-personnel mines believed left behind by fleeing rebels were shown to the president who also spoke with about 200 civilians. Some 12,500 people lived in Vaharai, mainly a fishing village. Rajapakse also took part in a religious ceremony at a makeshift Hindu temple and handed out gifts to families displaced by the fighting. Government troops captured a strategic seaside stretch that included Vaharai on January 19. Fresh clashes between government troops and Tamil Tigers broke out last year, undermining a Norway-brokered cease-fire signed in 2002. Rajapakse also visited Sampur village north of Vaharai, which in September became the first territorial change since the truce fell apart. Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam rebels have been fighting for an independent state for the country's ethnic minority Tamils since 1983 after decades of discrimination by majority Sinhalese. More than 68-thousand people have been killed in the fighting. Some 3,600 people have died since early last year. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   #srilanka #president #Mahinda #rajapakse e You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...