The Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels departed Wednesday in Colombo for Europe vowing to press for international donor aid blockade for the war-torn country.

Just before leaving the rebel-held northern Kilinochchi district for Geneva, Switzerland, S. P Thamilselvan, political wing leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels, told journalists that they would request donor countries to stop aid to the Sri Lankan government as international donor assistance does not reach the war zones in the north and east.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel delegation headed by Thamilselvan departed the Colombo international airport in the early hours Wednesday, officials said.

The pro-rebel Tamilnet website said the LTTE delegation is expected to hold discussions with legal and constitutional experts and also to meet the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and UN Human Rights Commission officials during the three-week long European tour.

Thamilselvan told reporters that the current "no war no peace" situation must not be allowed to drag on and stalled peace process must be revived early.

The LTTE rebels are not willing to reconsider their blueprint for an Interim Self Governing Authority for the north and east and the talks must be revived, he stressed.

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

The two sides have been observing a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire since they signed a truce agreement seven months before the first round of talks started.

The rebels complained that the previous government of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was too slow in implementing the decision made at the previous rounds of talks on rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-battered north and east.