The Hindu : Govt. offers `development oriented structure' to LTTE

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 29, 2003

International

International

Govt. offers `development oriented structure' to LTTE

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO MAY 28. The Sri Lankan Government today formally offered a ``development oriented structure'' as an alternative to the demand by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for an interim administration.

The proposals were made through the Norwegian facilitators, to be conveyed to the Tigers. No details were made public, with Colombo's chief negotiator, G.L. Peiris describing them as ``a practical solution to the problems confronting us within the laws of Sri Lanka''. Official sources described the proposal as one that was aimed at giving the Tigers a larger role in reconstruction and rehabilitation of the northeast.

T+he 15-month-long peace process ran into trouble on April 21, with the Tigers unilaterally suspending the talks and later demanding an interim administration outside the Sri Lankan Constitution, with full legal and administrative powers. When talks started last September the Tigers had said they wanted an interim administration recognising their ``administrative machinery'', which was already on ground and included their own police, judiciary and revenue systems.

Prof. Peiris described the ``alternative proposals'' as a ``meaningful response'' based on its recognition of ``what the LTTE is asking for''. ``We have formulated a set of proposals for the creation of a development oriented structure in the northeast for the effective implementation of the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the region. It is based on the practical solution. We are hopeful that the Tigers would consider them as a pragmatic response,'' Prof. Peiris said.

Asked if the Government's response would meet the Tigers' demand for an interim administration, he said the Government would ``wait for the LTTE's response'' on the matter, adding that it ``was not entirely clear'' what the Tigers had demanded.

The Government, however, was hopeful that its ``meaningful proposals'' would break the impasse on the negotiations front and pave the way for the LTTE's participation in the Tokyo donors' conference, scheduled for June 9 and 10, in which ``35 countries and 20 multilateral agencies are to participate at a very high level''.

The proposals were handed over to Oslo's special envoy for the peace process, Erik Solheim, who flew in to Sri Lanka over the weekend in a bid to break the deadlock.

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