LTTE favours ceasefire agreement to continue

Colombo, Nov 29: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has told the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that they favoured the ongoing four-year long ceasefire agreement (CFA) to continue with the Sri Lanka government, although their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran described it ''dead and defunct''.

LTTE's political leader, S P Thamilselvan, confirmed the rebels' stand yesterday when he met a SLMM delegation, led by Chief of Staff, Jon Oskar Solnes in the rebel-held Kilinochchi district.

Mr Thamilselvan assured us and wanted us to convey to the government that the LTTE favoured the CFA to be in effect and they will continue to be committed to it,'' SLMM spokesman Thorfinnur Omarasson, who took part in the meeting told UNI in an interview.

''They want the CFA to continue and have no intention to terminate it. That is very important. They still want the SLMM and think the Nordic truce monitors are an important part of the CFA,'' the SLMM spokesman said.

Describing it as a ''positive'' development, Mr Omarasson said, ''We have conveyed it to the government this morning with the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) in Colombo.

This message was highly appreciated by the SCOPP and government. It will now be conveyed to the higher-ups in the political system.

On Monday, LTTE supremo Prabhakaran in his annual speech charged that ''the dual war and peace approach'' by the Lanka government has resulted in the Ceasefire Agreement becoming defunct.

''The Mahinda Rajapakse government hopes to decide the fate of the Tamil nation using its military power. It wants to occupy the Tamil land and then force an unacceptable solution on the Tamils.

Due to this strategy, the CFA has become defunct,'' Prabhakaran charged.

He further said he was left with no option but to resume the campaign for a separate state of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.

The SLMM spokesman, said ''The LTTE views the CFA has become defunct because of the closure of the A9 road for a long time which is a heavy violation of the cease-fire agreement.

Meanwhile, the United States has condemned Prabhakaran remarks saying that it could further fuel violence and hostility in the country.

UNI

Related Stories

SL says rebels use UN aid convoy as smokescreen
In Focus: Sri Lanka Crisis