COLOMBO. June 6: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have rejected jjeace talks but the government will press ahead with a radical devolution plan aimed at ending ethnic bloodshed. President Chandrika Ku-maratunga said today, reports AFP.

In a BBC interview’. Ku-maratunga said she did not believe that fighting in the northern peninsula of Jaffna would deter talks, but the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were against negotiations.

"For six years wre have tried to talk to them and for six years they have lied." she told the BBC. Kumaratunga said future talks with the LTTE must be subject to conditions but did not spell them out.

"They (the LTTE) have de-

ceived foreign countries and governments on the pretext they are going to talk and up to date they have refused to talk and now there Is no question of talking unless certain conditions are fulfilled."

"Previously there were no conditions except we should finish talks in a limited timeframe because the LTTE Is known to drag on until they can gel better prepared to come back and assassinate and kill and chop villagers and kill soldiers and all kinds of things."

Asked whether the lull in fighting in the northern peninsula of Jaffna was a sign that there were moves to get peace talks moving. Kumaratunga said: "They have refused all talks, they are refusing all talks."

Kumaratunga said the gov-

ernment had direct contacts with the LTTE through the Norwegian government which is acting as a facilitator to bring both parties to the peace negotiating table.

The president said she will press ahead with her new constitution aimed at ending the Tamil separatist war with or without the participation of the Tamil Tigers w’ho have been leading a campaign for an homeland called Eelam.

There has been no reaction from the LTTE to president's remarks.

The president who is also the commander-in-chief of armed forces said the fighting in the Jaffna peninsula did not cause problems for civilians as battles u’ere in sparsely populated areas.