S.Lankan Tamil rebels hold president responsible for delay in resuming peace talks

Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday accused President Chandrika Kumaratunga of being responsible for the delay in resuming stalled peace talks with them.

In a statement issued by the peace secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the rebels said that Kumaratunga did not translate her intention into action after her coalition government came to power following the April 2 parliamentary elections though she had expressed her interest in restarting the peace talks.

"The president did not do anything constructively to take forward the peace process save mouthing her 'intentions' to restart the peace process." the statement said.

It said that it was totally disappointing that President Kumaratunga accused the rebels of being inflexible and indecisive over the resumption of the peace talks earlier this month.

The LTTE statement came after Norwegian special envoy ErikSolehim failed to make breakthrough in the deadlocked peace process at the end of his five-day visit here on Friday.

The LTTE rebels said that the president did not reciprocate their proposals for an Interim Self Governing Authority submitted to the previous government of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the end of October last year.

The rebels suspended the peace talks with the government in April last year after six rounds of face to face negotiations which began in September 2002.

Fighting between the two sides stopped when they entered into Norwegian-brokered ceasefire seven months before the first round of talks commenced.

Source: Xinhua