KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, 18 September 2005 — The political leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels has called for immediate talks with Sri Lanka’s government to save a shaky cease-fire.
Tamil Tiger political chief S.P. Tamilselvan said the rebel group was ready “even in the next minute” to begin talks with the government.
The truce agreed in 2002 has come under fresh strains since the assassination of the country’s foreign minister last month in an attack blamed by the government on Tamil rebels.
“We are anxious to start the talks immediately... even in the next minute,” Tamilselvan said in an interview at his political headquarters, 330 kilometers (204 miles) north of the capital Colombo, on Friday night.
Peace broker Norway has sought talks between the two sides in the wake of the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, which has stoked fears of a return to civil war in the Indian Ocean island nation.
Tamilselvan denied that the Tigers carried out the Aug. 12 murder of Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil who was a fierce critic of the rebels, saying they had “nothing to gain by killing anyone.” He said the rebels had suggested an overseas venue for any future talks to safeguard the cease-fire. The Tigers earlier turned down the international airport as a possible neutral venue.
Colombo has insisted that any discussions take place in Sri Lanka but the two sides have so far been unable to agree on a location.
The focus of talks would be on how to preserve the cease-fire that ended decades of civil war which claimed 60,000 lives.
They would be the first top-level discussions between the two sides since peace talks aimed at ending the ethnic conflict collapsed in April 2003.
Tamilselvan added he was concerned by reports Britain was seeking to get the European Union to impose a ban on the Tigers.
“We don’t believe that the European Union will be (so) naive (as) to marginalize the LTTE, and thereby the Tamil people because when they are removed from the equation, the peace process will collapse,” he told AFP.
Diplomats say Britain, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, has circulated a note among members suggesting the imposition of an EU-wide ban on the rebels.
The Tigers were outlawed in the United States in 1997 and by Britain in 2001. Moves to ban them in other countries has gained momentum following the assassination of Kadirgamar.
“The international community is fully aware that there are two parties to the conflict here. We hope they won’t make a decision without consulting one party — the LTTE. To do that would be a injustice to us,” Tamilselvan said.
“We are convinced that the EU will not take such a decision to ban us.”
A fresh ban by EU members would have serious implications for the Tigers who have been traveling abroad extensively to drum up support for their peace moves since the first round of peace talks in September 2002.
