S.Lankan Tamil rebels want development assistance before resuming talks

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday urged the World Bank to extend financial assistance to the war-ravaged north and east pending kick starting the stalled peacebid.

Leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) S.P. Thamilselvan made the appeal during his talks with a visiting World Bank delegation.

Peter Harrold, country director of the World Bank in Sri Lanka,visited the LTTE- controlled northern Kilinochchi district to present a Tamil version of the bank's development plan for the north and east.

The LTTE rebels insisted on international donor support towards reconstruction, re-settlement and rehabilitation of the north and east devastated by over two decades of ethnic conflict.

The international lending and donor agencies who pledged 4.5 billion US dollars worth of assistance in June 2003 have urged theSri Lankan government and the LTTE to resume peace negotiations and show progress in order to get the funding released.

Efforts by the Norwegian peace facilitators since May to revivethe stalled peace process have not proved fruitful.

The peace process came to a standstill in April 2003 when the Tigers staged a temporary pullout.

Source: Xinhua