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LTTE says past talks 'a waste of time'

Promises not to return to war

AFP, Colombo
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday vowed not to return to war, but said six rounds of peace negotiations with the government had been a "waste of time."
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said it was committed to a peaceful resolution of the island's drawn-out ethnic conflict which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
The LTTE's political wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan, told reporters in the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi there would be no return to armed conflict despite the rebels' boycott since April 21 of the Norwegian-brokered talks.
"The LTTE is highly committed to peace through a negotiated settlement," Thamilselvan was quoted as saying by local journalists contacted by satellite phone. "Not for one moment do we think a military solution is possible."
However, he added that six rounds of peace talks with the Colombo government had failed to build sufficient trust between the foes.
"We agree that it (the talks) has
been a waste of time. Six rounds of talks have not achieved a basis for mutual understanding, " said Thamilselvan, who is a member of the LTTE's four-member negotiating team.
His remarks came a day after the LTTE asked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to establish an interim administration for the island's northern and eastern regions giving the rebels a majority stake.
The Tigers said they would reenter talks and take part in a crucial donor conference Japan is hosting in June only if the government responded favourably to their latest demand.
"If the prime minister demonstrates that he could implement the decisions, it would be adequate for the LTTE to participate in talks," Thamilselvan said.
Meanwhile Sri Lankan authorities were giving the fresh demands "active consideration," officials here said yesterday.
However, they admitted that the prospects of immediately lifting the impasse were slim given the complexities involved.
"On the face of it, it appears a big problem for the government to
sell the idea of an interim administration to the rest of the country," an official source said. "But, getting Tigers involved in a political process is something positive."
The Tiger guerrillas already run a parallel administration in areas of the island's northeast under their control with their own police, courts, judiciary and tax collection.
However, the Tiger demand for an interim administration with them getting a lion's share would mean they will have greater authority and legitimacy in the eyes of the international community, officials said.
Tamil politicians noted that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had initiated the setting up of a similar structure in November 1999 when she established the "Advisory Council for the Northern and Eastern Provinces."
However, Kumaratunga's move to have between 11 and 17 members drawn from political parties in order to exercise the powers of a provincial council, the highest level local government body in the country, was never implemented.