LTTE REITERATES THAT INTERIM GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE FIRST ESTABLISHED AS PRE CONDITION TO START PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
May 05, 09.35 AM:The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has reiterated that the government should establish an interim government under the rebel group as a pre-condition to establish peace talks with the present government.
The LTTE’s political head S. Thamilselvan made the announcement after Norway’s Special envoy Eric Solheim and his delegation met him in Kilinochchi. carrying the message of the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga that the government was prepared to continue with the peace talks.
Thamilselvan said, the recently received verdict of the people, expressed at the general elections expressed the people’s mandate in the Northern and Eastern Provinces supporting the establishment of the Interim Government in the two provinces under the armed rebel group.
The Tamil opposition charges that the overwhelming mandate was obtained by the intimidations ,impersonations and stuffing of ballot boxes blatantly carried out by the LTTE in the recent general elections
The LTTE said even before this government came to power the stance of the LTTE was that before any kind of further peace talks the establishment of an interim government was necessary for the two provinces
The LTTE said, it was confident that the government very much wanted to go ahead with the peace process
Eric Solheim said that both the government and the LTTE wanted to continue to keep the Ceasefire established two years ago under any kind of circumstances.
The official news website of the LTTE, the Tamil Net said, “Ambassador for Norway in Colombo, Mr. Hans Brattskar, Norway's special peace envoy, Mr. Eric Solheim, and Second Secretary of the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, Ms. Kjersti Thomsdal, met with Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. The talks, started at 10.45 a.m. lasted for more than two hours and focused on the resumption of stalled peace talks and about preparing the agenda for the talks between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), sources in Vanni said. “
The news website further said, “Liberation Tigers are fully prepared to resume negotiations on the same principles and in the same atmosphere the peace talks were carried out under the previous government in,Colombo Mr. Thamilchelvan said, speaking to journalists after meeting with the Norwegian delegation Monday”
The Nowegian delegation would inform President Kumaratunga about the contentions of the LTTE in Colombo
