[color=blue][b]LTTE embargoes aid meeting [/b][/color]

[Mathivathanan]

[size=14]LTTE embargoes aid meeting again
By Chris Kamalendran
In an apparent bid to prevent the aid pledged by the international community being released to the government, the LTTE has decided to boycott next week's follow- up meeting of the Tokyo donor conference to be held in Colombo under the chairmanship of Japan's special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi.

The reluctance of the LTTE to take part in the meeting scheduled for September 12 could force the Japanese government to postpone Mr. Akashi's visit. A spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in Colombo said if the government and the LTTE did not agree on the meeting it might not be held and Mr. Akashi might not come.

An LTTE spokesman told The Sunday Times they would keep away from the meeting as the issue about the proposed Interim Administration for the north and eastern provinces was yet to be resolved and that attending the meeting would give the wrong signal to the international community that the issue had been resolved.

The LTTE pulled out from the peace talks on April 21 after demanding an interim administration and thereafter boycotted the Tokyo donor conference held later that month. The donor countries went ahead to pledge US dollars 4.5 billion within the next three years, but linked it to the progress of the peace talks.

The September 12 meeting has been arranged to review the progress following the donor conference. Mr. Akashi who was scheduled to be in Sri Lanka from September 11 to 16, was also due to meet with LTTE leaders in Kilinochchi and then proceed to Ampara and Kalmunai to discuss issues concerning the Muslims and to seek their views on the proposed Interim Administrative structure.

Katsuhiko Okazaki country director in Sri Lanka for the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) , said they were ready to provide full support for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the north and east, but wanted the LTTE to return for talks to enable the proper disbursement of donor funds.

Meanwhile LTTE's political wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan on Thursday briefed their leader Velupillai Prabahakaran on the discussions in Paris, but LTTE sources said it might take about four more weeks to submit counter proposals to the Norweigan facilitators.

The LTTE has already indicated it would bring up the issue of the High Security Zones (HSZ) in its counter proposals to be submitted to the government.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/index.html

[Mathivathanan]

[size=14]Tigers to boycott donor review meeting in Colombo? Tuesday, September 9, 2003, 6:56 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
The LTTE's position is that its participation would compromise its hard-line stand on the proposed Interim Administration.
Sept 09, Colombo: The Tigers are said to be boycotting the meeting to review donor aid pledged for Sri Lanka last summer in Tokyo, sources said. The meeting will be held in Colombo on September 11-16.

Informed sources revealed, The LTTE's position is that its participation would compromise its hard-line stand on the proposed Interim Administration.

Officials said representatives from the governments of Sri Lanka, the United States, Norway, several European Union member states, India and multi-lateral agencies such as the World Bank, IMF, UN agencies and the LTTE would take part at the meeting, which will be chaired by Japan's Special Ambassador Yasushi Akashi.

International donors at the Tokyo meeting last summer pledged 4.5 billion dollars in aid to help the country to recover from two decades of war.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive/Septemb...er965629UN.html

[Mathivathanan]

10 Sep 2003 06:02:38 GMT
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to boycott aid meeting

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By Scott McDonald

COLOMBO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels will boycott a Japanese-led meeting to discuss aid and reconstruction for the island after 20 years of civil war, diplomats and government officials said on Wednesday.

The boycott is the latest in a series of hardline moves by the Tigers to show their displeasure with the peace process and with government efforts to restart talks suspended in April.

Friday's meeting in Colombo is a follow-up to a donor conference in Tokyo in June -- which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also boycotted -- that raised $4.5 billion in rebuilding aid, conditional on progress in efforts to end an ethnic war that has killed 64,000.

"The LTTE sent the Japanese a letter saying they are not going," said one Western diplomat.

"There will still be a meeting but without them," the diplomat said.

Japanese special envoy Yasushi Akashi is to attend the meeting, and will also meet the "political leadership" of the LTTE in rebel-held Wanni, a Japanese embassy statement said.

That means he is unlikely to meet Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE's reclusive leader.

The visit comes as the rebels weigh a government proposal for a power-sharing body for the Tamil-majority north and east, aimed at bringing the LTTE back to the negotiating table.

Their counter-proposal is expected by the end of the month, but could be vastly different to the government's, which offers the Tigers wide powers over rebuilding and resettlement of displaced people, but not control over policing and security.

The rebels have run their own police in Wanni for 10 years, and Prabhakaran made a rare public appearance on Sunday to open a new police headquarters.

The Tigers have been heavily criticised for ignoring a ruling from Nordic monitors overseeing an 18-month ceasefire that a rebel camp was in violation of the truce.

The U.S. State Department and human rights groups have also accused the Tigers of using the ceasefire to murder dozens of political rivals.

The Tigers suspended the peace talks in April, saying not enough was being done to rehabilitate war-torn Tamil areas.

http://www.theacademic.org/#10631816100