Tamil Tigers formally reject Sri Lanka ethnic peace deal

[Rajkumar Subramaniam]

Tamil Tigers formally reject Sri Lanka ethnic peace deal

Sat 08 Nov 97 - 03:37 GMT

COLOMBO, Nov 8 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas have
formally rejected a radical power-sharing plan
aimed at ending the country's drawn out separatist war, Tamil
sources here said Saturday.

The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the
government's peace proposals presented in
parliament last month amounted to a "political conspiracy" against
them.

Tamil sources quoted the latest October issue of the official rebel
journal, the Viduthalai Puligal or Liberation Tiger, as
saying the government's devolution plan failed to recognise a
"Tamil nation".

The rebels said they were fighting Sri Lankan security forces like
armies of two countries. The Tigers are demanding
the establishment of an independent state called Eelam in the
island's northeast.

The government plan envisages granting greater autonomy to
minorities in exchange for ethnic peace. The plan also
seeks to turn the country into a de facto federal state.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga who initiated the power-sharing
plan in August 1995 has offered to talk with the
rebels over political arrangements but there has been no response
from the LTTE.

Two days after a huge truck bombing in the capital Colombo last
month, Kumaratunga said she was willing to talk
"even with the devil" on her political package.

The government plan is expected to be taken up in parliament early
next year after the legislature concludes a debate
on the national budget.

The ruling party lacks the mandatory two thirds majority in
parliament to realise reforms and is dependent on the main
opposition United National Party which has said it will oppose any
move to divide the country.

More than 50,000 people have been killed in the drawn out conflict
in the past 25 years.

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