04-20-2004, 01:26 PM
<span style='color:red'>Sri Lanka Rebels Warn Govt Not To Use Arms Again
Dow Jones Newswires
[size=14]COLOMBO (AP)--Tamil Tiger rebels are warning Sri Lanka's new hard-line government against resorting to a "military solution" to end the country's two-decade civil war, saying a resumption in peace talks is the only way forward.
Top rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran has made it clear that the government "cannot entertain any thought of finding a military solution to the Tamil national question," the TamilNet Web site quoted guerrilla political chief S.P. Thamilselvan as saying.
"The leader has shown that it is only by talking to the Tamil people or the Tamil nation that the (government) can come to an agreement," Thamilselvan was quoted as saying by the Web site in a posting late Monday.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga's political alliance, which won the largest number of seats in the 225-member Parliament in April 2 polls, has stressed that it wants to revive the stalled peace process as soon as possible.
However, Kumaratunga - who survived a 1999 Tiger assassination attempt - has taken a more hard-line stance toward the rebels than former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who negotiated a 2002 cease-fire with the rebels but whose party was defeated in the latest elections.
The president accused him of making too many concessions in peace talks with the insurgents, which have been on hold for a year.
Since the guerrillas launched their separatist insurgency in 1983, successive governments have failed to defeat them. The rebels, who accuse the majority Sinhalese of discrimination, are notoriously fierce and ruthless fighters.
Thamilselvan's comments came as a group of Tamil lawmakers headed to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi to hold talks with the Tiger political chief on the troubled peace process, as squabbling within the new government threatens to derail peace efforts.
The alliance has become embroiled in a dispute with a junior coalition partner that has slowed attempts to appoint a full Cabinet.
<img src='http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2004/04/TNA_group_24866_435.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
TNA MPs at the LTTE's media co-ordinating office in Kilinochchi Tuesday with Deputy Head of LTTE's Political Section, Thangan (tamilnet)
The Tamil National Alliance - a political party representing the Tiger rebels that emerged as the third biggest group in Parliament - has accused the government of dragging its feet over the peace process.
"The government should understand that if it wants a united Sri Lanka, they should move forward the peace process," Nadaraja Raviraj, a senior member the TNA, said Monday.
The first session of the new Parliament is scheduled for Thursday, and the government is expected to come under pressure about its plans for peace.
Around 65,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's civil war, before Wickremesinghe's government signed a cease-fire accord in February 2002.
The truce was followed by several rounds of peace talks, during which the rebels gave up their demand for an independent homeland and sought broad autonomy instead, but the talks stalled in April 2003. </span>
-Edited by Genevieve I. Soledad
April 20, 2004 03:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
Dow Jones Newswires
[size=14]COLOMBO (AP)--Tamil Tiger rebels are warning Sri Lanka's new hard-line government against resorting to a "military solution" to end the country's two-decade civil war, saying a resumption in peace talks is the only way forward.
Top rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran has made it clear that the government "cannot entertain any thought of finding a military solution to the Tamil national question," the TamilNet Web site quoted guerrilla political chief S.P. Thamilselvan as saying.
"The leader has shown that it is only by talking to the Tamil people or the Tamil nation that the (government) can come to an agreement," Thamilselvan was quoted as saying by the Web site in a posting late Monday.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga's political alliance, which won the largest number of seats in the 225-member Parliament in April 2 polls, has stressed that it wants to revive the stalled peace process as soon as possible.
However, Kumaratunga - who survived a 1999 Tiger assassination attempt - has taken a more hard-line stance toward the rebels than former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who negotiated a 2002 cease-fire with the rebels but whose party was defeated in the latest elections.
The president accused him of making too many concessions in peace talks with the insurgents, which have been on hold for a year.
Since the guerrillas launched their separatist insurgency in 1983, successive governments have failed to defeat them. The rebels, who accuse the majority Sinhalese of discrimination, are notoriously fierce and ruthless fighters.
Thamilselvan's comments came as a group of Tamil lawmakers headed to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi to hold talks with the Tiger political chief on the troubled peace process, as squabbling within the new government threatens to derail peace efforts.
The alliance has become embroiled in a dispute with a junior coalition partner that has slowed attempts to appoint a full Cabinet.
<img src='http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2004/04/TNA_group_24866_435.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
TNA MPs at the LTTE's media co-ordinating office in Kilinochchi Tuesday with Deputy Head of LTTE's Political Section, Thangan (tamilnet)
The Tamil National Alliance - a political party representing the Tiger rebels that emerged as the third biggest group in Parliament - has accused the government of dragging its feet over the peace process.
"The government should understand that if it wants a united Sri Lanka, they should move forward the peace process," Nadaraja Raviraj, a senior member the TNA, said Monday.
The first session of the new Parliament is scheduled for Thursday, and the government is expected to come under pressure about its plans for peace.
Around 65,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's civil war, before Wickremesinghe's government signed a cease-fire accord in February 2002.
The truce was followed by several rounds of peace talks, during which the rebels gave up their demand for an independent homeland and sought broad autonomy instead, but the talks stalled in April 2003. </span>
-Edited by Genevieve I. Soledad
April 20, 2004 03:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
<img src='http://kuruvikal.yarl.net/archives/PETBIRD1.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>