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| Monday, 24 January 2005 |
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Willing to join Govt's N-E relief programme The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has expressed its willingness to be included in a common programme with the Government for providing relief to the stricken victims of the tsunami disaster in the North-East, before any recommencement of Peace Talks. The LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham told the media on Saturday that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran at a meeting with the visiting Norwegian Peace facilitators, had expressed his willingness to co-operate with the Government to work out a mechanism to coordinate post tsunami relief assistance in the North-East. The meeting, the LTTE chief attended and held at the LTTE political office in Kilinochchi lasted for about two hours. Participating at this discussion with the Norwegian team Prabhakaran had pointed out that it was not the time to talk about "peace talks" and had pointed out that the LTTE alone was unable to carry out development work in the North-East, although his organisation had taken the initiative to provide relief to the people in the region, at the initial stages immediately after the tsunami disaster. The LTTE leader had further said that he would like to see a member from the LTTE is included in the specially formed International Trust Fund initiated by the World Bank to provide relief to the people hit by the disaster, working in collaboration with the Government. He also told the Norwegian delegation that the LTTE's Peace Secretariat and the Government Peace Secretariat worked with a good understanding. "The Government and the LTTE are engaged in preliminary discussions to formulate a mechanism to co-operate in relief work in the North-East. The discussions will be confined to humanitarian work and no political issues will be taken up," Balasingham told a press conference. When the Norwegian delegation underlined the necessity of a mechanism acceptable to both the Government and the LTTE to co-operate in relief work, Prabhakaran had responded that he was willing to cooperate to set up a mechanism, with a view to distribute aid freely and equitably without bureaucratic hindrance. Balasingham said. Prabhakaran has also said that what the Government should do at present was to act in such a way to win the confidence of the LTTE and the Tamil people. If the Government could do that and once the development work of the area destroyed by tsunami is completed, the peace process would also be a success. While praising the Government for carrying out projects to provide relief to people without political considerations, he had said that he trusted the same policy would be applied in providing relief to all without ethnicity considerations. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen, his Deputy Vidar Helgesen, special envoy Eric Solheim, International Relations and Development Minister Ms. Hilda Johnson and Norway Ambassador for Sri Lanka Hans Brattsker met LTTE leader with LTTE Theoretician Anton Balasingham, Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan, Sea Tiger leader Soosai. |
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