by Ranga Jayasuriya

The LTTE hierarchy yesterday met in a crucial meeting to decide on the movement's participation in the Tokyo aid conference, two days before Japanese special envoy Yasushi Akashi's deadline to confirm LTTE participation in the donor parley.

"Mr Thamilchelvan on behalf of the leader, Prabhakaran met area leaders to seek their opinion on the LTTE participation," a spokesman of the LTTE political office in Kilinochchi told the Daily News.

Prabhakaran, the elusive Tiger chief, was not present in the meeting and has authorised his political chief to consult his area leaders.

LTTE Eastern military chief Karuna has been flown to Kilinochchi by an Air Force helicopter for the meeting where heads of LTTE fighting units and key administrative units have met.

The LTTE spokesman said he had no knowledge of the outcome of the talks. Thamilchelvan will brief Prabhakaran on the meeting.

When Akashi met Prabhakaran last week, he was asked to confirm LTTE participation in the Tokyo aid conference before May 14.

The aid conference aimed at raising three billion dollars for three years for the country's development work is scheduled for June 9 and 10.

Meeting with Prabhakaran, Akashi stressed the "extreme difficulty" of re-fixing the dates of the donor parley due to the large number of participant countries. He also pointed out that LTTE's absence would make donors sceptical.

After the meeting with the Japanese envoy, the LTTE chief peace negotiator Anton Balasingham told the press that the LTTE had promised to take Akashi's request into consideration.

In another development, a group of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarians will meet LTTE political chief Thamilchelvan today in Kilinochchi to discuss the recent developments on the peace front.

MP A. Vinayagamoorthi told the Daily News the TNA delegation will discuss the "current political climate in detail".

He said the delegation will prevail on the LTTE leadership the importance of staying in the peace process. He called on the Government to fully implement the ceasefire agreement and speedy implementation of North East rehabilitation projects, the key demands of the LTTE to resume talks.

Meanwhile, Balasingham was flown to London for medical treatment yesterday morning after a post-kidney transplant problem forced him to abruptly leave the Wanni before a LTTE executive committee meeting scheduled this week.