S.Lanka Tiger rebels reject Asia peace talks offer

By Joe Ariyaratnam

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger
rebels on Saturday rejected a government offer to hold crunch
talks in Asia aimed at averting a return to civil war,
insisting any meeting should be hosted by peace broker Norway.

New President Mahinda Rajapakse has offered to meet the
rebels for immediate talks in any Asian country, but not in
Europe. He has also angered the Tigers by rejecting their
demand for an ethnic Tamil homeland outright.

S.P. Thamilselvan, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam’s (LTTE) political wing, accused the government of trying
to freeze the group out of Europe and of trying to convince the
European Union to list it as a banned terrorist organization.

“The first round of talks should be held in Norway,”
Thamilselvan told reporters in the northern rebel stronghold of
Kilinochchi. “The government’s position that talks should be
held in an Asian country, that European countries should ban
the LTTE … we consider a coup attempt.”

“By living (in Europe), our people have established a
certain place and status in those countries,” he added,
accusing the government of seeking to “sever our relationship
with the international community and sideline us.”

The government, which announced its Asia talks offer on
Friday after rowing back on its predecessors’ refusal to hold
talks outside Sri Lanka, was not immediately available for
comment.

The Tigers have threatened to resume their two-decade
struggle next year unless Colombo comes up with a viable
power-sharing blueprint, saying this is its last chance to
avert a return to a war in which more than 64,000 people have
died.

CONSTANT BICKERING

But both sides are poles apart, each bickering at the other
through the media, and a surge in violence that has sparked
fears of a return to war is likely to continue, analysts say.

Nordic truce monitors on Saturday blamed the Tigers for
shooting at a military helicopter on Wednesday in the first
attack on an aircraft since the cease-fire was signed in 2002
– a charge the rebels reject.

“As the small arms fire against the helicopter originated
from an area controlled by the LTTE, the LTTE must bear
responsibility,” Hagrup Haukland, head of the Sri Lanka
Monitoring Mission which over oversees the truce, said in a
statement.

“The LTTE is urged to do all in its power to avoid similar
incidents in future as such incidents can lead to serious
consequences jeopardizing the cease-fire.”

The truce is at its lowest ebb after a rash of killings
culminated in two deadly claymore fragmentation mine attacks
that killed 14 soldiers earlier this month.

Suspected rebel fronts have since emerged, threatening to
shoot soldiers. Ordinary Sri Lankans in the northern Jaffna
peninsula, which is hemmed in by rebel territory, fear they may
have to flee and start their lives over yet again.

“We were displaced in 2000 … our house was totally
destroyed. We repaired it,” said 36-year-old school teacher C.
Raju.

“The present happenings point toward war,” he added. “We
have suffered enough, but we are used to this.”