Sri Lankan Tamil Rebels Set Preconditions for Resumption of Peace Talks

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 22, 2003

Sri Lankan Tamil Rebels Set Preconditions for Resumption of Peace Talks

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Sri Lankan separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have set preconditions for the resumption of peace talks between them and the government by establishment of an interim administration in the war-ravaged north and east of the country.

Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels Velupillai Prabhakaran has proposed to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that an interim administration should be set up with larger cooperation with their members to carry out rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the war-affected areas.

The LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham conveyed their decision in his letter to Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen who left the country on Tuesday following his failure to bring the rebels back to the negotiating table, the Tamilnet website reported on Wednesday.

"Since a permanent political settlement is not feasible in the immediate future, the Tiger leadership proposes an interim administrative structure with greater participation of the LTTE in both decision making and delivery of the tasks of rebuilding the war damaged economy and restoring normalcy in the Tamil speaking homeland," Balasingham said.

"Mr Pirapaharan (Prabhakaran) envisages that the proposed interim administrative mechanism should supersede the multiplicity of existing structures, which work at cross-purposes and impede the efficient utilization of development funds," Balasingham pointed out.

The LTTE rebels said that a "positive and constructive" response to their demand from Wickremesinghe in clear and concrete terms will certainly help their leadership to take a crucial decision on the resumption of peace talks and participation at the international donors conference to be held in Tokyo, Japan on June9 and June 10.

The LTTE rebels announced on April 21 that they were suspending the direct talks with the government and they would not attend the Tokyo donors conference.

The rebels have called for urgent action by the government to resettle the internally displaced people in addition to the provision of other humanitarian assistance to war-affected minority Tamils.

The government and the rebels have held six rounds of peace talks since last September but a seventh round which should have taken place on April 29 and May has to be canceled following the rebel decision.

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