04-20-2004, 06:17 PM
<span style='font-size:25pt;line-height:100%'><b>Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger supremo presses for talks through proxy MPs</b></span>
Tue Apr 20, 9:26 AM ET
[align=center:46a12632ee]<img src='http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20040420/capt.sge.isd34.200404132627.photo00.default-332x384.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'> [/align:46a12632ee]
COLOMBO (AFP) - The chief of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers has asked his 22 proxy legislators in the country's new parliament to pressure the minority government to open talks based on the rebels' blueprint for self-rule.
Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran met the MPs of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a proxy of his guerrillas, in the northern rebel-held region of Wanni.
"The national leader thanked the Tamils for voting the TNA in and told the TNA MPs that they should ask the government to resume negotiations based on the Interim Self Governing Authority proposal," a rebel source said on Saturday.
The TNA has said the government must recognise the Tamil Tigers as the sole representative of the island's Tamil minority, which accounts for about 12.5 percent of the 19 million population.
The Tigers warned earlier this month that they will return to fighting unless the new government considers the Interim Self Governing Authority, which would have rights of taxation and security in Tamil-dominated areas.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has already dismissed the proposal, unveiled by the Tigers on October 31, as a stepping stone to a separate Tamil state.
But Kumaratunga has said she was hopeful of restarting talks, in a national address after her party won the April 2 elections and in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites).
Despite the stalling of the Norwegian-backed peace process, the Tigers and government forces have been observing a truce since February 2002. The three-decade ethnic conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance, which won 105 seats in the 225-member assembly, faces its first parliamentary test on Thursday when a speaker is to be elected through a secret ballot.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...89kygwxy_photo0
Tue Apr 20, 9:26 AM ET
[align=center:46a12632ee]<img src='http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20040420/capt.sge.isd34.200404132627.photo00.default-332x384.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'> [/align:46a12632ee]
COLOMBO (AFP) - The chief of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers has asked his 22 proxy legislators in the country's new parliament to pressure the minority government to open talks based on the rebels' blueprint for self-rule.
Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran met the MPs of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a proxy of his guerrillas, in the northern rebel-held region of Wanni.
"The national leader thanked the Tamils for voting the TNA in and told the TNA MPs that they should ask the government to resume negotiations based on the Interim Self Governing Authority proposal," a rebel source said on Saturday.
The TNA has said the government must recognise the Tamil Tigers as the sole representative of the island's Tamil minority, which accounts for about 12.5 percent of the 19 million population.
The Tigers warned earlier this month that they will return to fighting unless the new government considers the Interim Self Governing Authority, which would have rights of taxation and security in Tamil-dominated areas.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has already dismissed the proposal, unveiled by the Tigers on October 31, as a stepping stone to a separate Tamil state.
But Kumaratunga has said she was hopeful of restarting talks, in a national address after her party won the April 2 elections and in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites).
Despite the stalling of the Norwegian-backed peace process, the Tigers and government forces have been observing a truce since February 2002. The three-decade ethnic conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance, which won 105 seats in the 225-member assembly, faces its first parliamentary test on Thursday when a speaker is to be elected through a secret ballot.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...89kygwxy_photo0