lanka

Tamil Rebels in Sri Lanka Rule Out Talks in Asia

December 18, 2005
Tamil Rebels in Sri Lanka Rule Out Talks in Asia
By REUTERS
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, Dec. 17 (Reuters) - Tamil Tiger rebels on Saturday rejected a government offer to hold emergency talks in Asia aimed at averting a return to civil war, insisting that any meeting should be run by Norway, which brokered previous peace talks.
The new Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapakse, a hard-liner elected by the country's Sinhalese majority, has offered to meet the rebels for immediate talks in any Asian country, but not in Europe. He has also angered the rebels by rejecting their demand for an ethnic Tamil homeland outright.
S. P. Thamilselvan, leader of the rebels' political wing, accused the government of trying to freeze the group out of Europe and of trying to convince the European Union to list it as a banned terrorist organization.
"The first round of talks should be held in Norway," Mr. Thamilselvan told reporters in the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi. He added that the rebels considered the government's position that talks should be held in an Asian country and that European countries should ban the rebel group "a coup attempt."
"Our people have established a certain place and status in those countries," he added, speaking of ethnic Tamils who live in Europe. He accused the government of seeking to "sever our relationship with the international community and sideline us."
The government, which announced its offer of talks in Asia on Friday after reconsidering its predecessors' refusal to hold talks outside Sri Lanka, was not immediately available for comment.
The Tigers have threatened to resume their two-decade struggle next year unless the government in Colombo delivers a plan for sharing power, saying that they are offering the last chance to avert a return to a war in which more than 64,000 people have been killed.
But both sides are poles apart, each bickering at the other through the news media. Political analysts say a surge in violence that has set off fears of a return to war is likely to continue.
Truce monitors from Norway on Saturday blamed the rebels for shooting at a military helicopter on Wednesday in the first attack on an aircraft since the cease-fire was signed in 2002. Rebel representatives have denied that they attacked the helicopter.
"As the small-arms fire against the helicopter originated from an area controlled by the L.T.T.E., the L.T.T.E. must bear responsibility," Hagrup Haukland, leader of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission which oversees the truce, said in a statement. He used the initials for the rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"The L.T.T.E. is urged to do all in its power to avoid similar incidents in future as such incidents can lead to serious consequences jeopardizing the cease-fire," the statement said.
The truce is at its lowest ebb after a rash of killings culminated in two deadly fragmentation mine attacks that killed 14 soldiers earlier this month.
Suspected rebel fronts have since emerged, threatening to shoot soldiers. Sri Lankans in the northern Jaffna peninsula, which is hemmed in by rebel territory, fear they may have to flee and start their lives over yet again.
"We were displaced in 2000," said C. Raju, a 36-year-old schoolteacher. "Our house was totally destroyed. We repaired it."
"The present happenings point toward war," he added. "We have suffered enough, but we are used to this."

posted by cdag @ 4:22 PM