06-30-2004, 05:59 PM
<span style='font-size:25pt;line-height:100%'>Sri Lanka rebels issue ultimatum for reviving peace talks+ </span>
Associated Press, Wed June 30, 2004 09:37 EDT . - - COLOMBO, June 30 (Kyodo) Sri Lanka - 's Tamil Tiger rebels on Wednesday accused the Colombo government of sheltering a renegade rebel leader and warned that the cease-fire agreement that halted Asia's longest running conflict for over two years has been endangered as a result.
S.P. Thamilchelvan, head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, conveyed the position to Norway's special peace envoy, Erik Solheim, who is in Sri Lanka - to step up efforts to revive the peace process stalled since April last year.
''If the Sri Lankan president and the government are serious about the cease-fire agreement and the peace talks, they should stop sheltering Karuna and backing the murder and mayhem some of his henchmen are indulging in Batticaloa,'' Thamilchelvan told reporters after a meeting with Solheim in rebel-held Kilinochchi in the north.
Karuna, the LTTE's battle-hardened eastern commander who goes by one name, broke away from the LTTE in April and has gone underground. His supporters, retaining a hit-and-run capability in the east, have been attacking the Tigers.
Although the LTTE swiftly quelled the rebellion, killing scores of Karuna loyalists, the renegade leader's forces are estimated to have killed at least 40 LTTE fighters in the initial battle and subsequent hit-and-run raids.
Thamilchelvan, who accused military intelligence of protecting Karuna and a group who accompanied him to Colombo, told reporters that his side made its position known to the Norwegians ''very clearly and firmly.''
Solheim admitted that there was no major breakthrough during talks with the LTTE in Kilinochchi, which followed meetings in Colombo with Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, government officials and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
''There is no major breakthrough I can speak of at the moment, but we as facilitators are working hard to bring both parties to the negotiating table soon,'' he said.
There has been speculation in the local press that Karuna, who left eastern Batticaloa earlier this month accompanied by loyalists and a lawmaker belonging to the opposition United National Party, has already left the country, possibly for India. There has been no confirmation of such rumors.
Thamilchelvan said the Norwegians conveyed a message from Wickremesinghe to the LTTE saying neither the UNP nor its leaders knew of Karuna's ''involvement'' with a UNP lawmaker who brought him to Colombo. This parliamentarian resigned his seat in the legislature when his role in bringing Karuna to the capital became public.
http://www.theacademic.org/#10886057660
Associated Press, Wed June 30, 2004 09:37 EDT . - - COLOMBO, June 30 (Kyodo) Sri Lanka - 's Tamil Tiger rebels on Wednesday accused the Colombo government of sheltering a renegade rebel leader and warned that the cease-fire agreement that halted Asia's longest running conflict for over two years has been endangered as a result.
S.P. Thamilchelvan, head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, conveyed the position to Norway's special peace envoy, Erik Solheim, who is in Sri Lanka - to step up efforts to revive the peace process stalled since April last year.
''If the Sri Lankan president and the government are serious about the cease-fire agreement and the peace talks, they should stop sheltering Karuna and backing the murder and mayhem some of his henchmen are indulging in Batticaloa,'' Thamilchelvan told reporters after a meeting with Solheim in rebel-held Kilinochchi in the north.
Karuna, the LTTE's battle-hardened eastern commander who goes by one name, broke away from the LTTE in April and has gone underground. His supporters, retaining a hit-and-run capability in the east, have been attacking the Tigers.
Although the LTTE swiftly quelled the rebellion, killing scores of Karuna loyalists, the renegade leader's forces are estimated to have killed at least 40 LTTE fighters in the initial battle and subsequent hit-and-run raids.
Thamilchelvan, who accused military intelligence of protecting Karuna and a group who accompanied him to Colombo, told reporters that his side made its position known to the Norwegians ''very clearly and firmly.''
Solheim admitted that there was no major breakthrough during talks with the LTTE in Kilinochchi, which followed meetings in Colombo with Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, government officials and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
''There is no major breakthrough I can speak of at the moment, but we as facilitators are working hard to bring both parties to the negotiating table soon,'' he said.
There has been speculation in the local press that Karuna, who left eastern Batticaloa earlier this month accompanied by loyalists and a lawmaker belonging to the opposition United National Party, has already left the country, possibly for India. There has been no confirmation of such rumors.
Thamilchelvan said the Norwegians conveyed a message from Wickremesinghe to the LTTE saying neither the UNP nor its leaders knew of Karuna's ''involvement'' with a UNP lawmaker who brought him to Colombo. This parliamentarian resigned his seat in the legislature when his role in bringing Karuna to the capital became public.
http://www.theacademic.org/#10886057660
Truth 'll prevail