Tigers pressure Norway to disarm Tamil rivals in Sri Lanka by Amal Jayasinghe

Tamil Tiger rebels Wednesday asked Norway's new peace envoy to make sure Sri Lanka's government disarms para-military groups ahead of a new round of truce negotiations in Switzerland.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they told Jon Hanssen-Bauer to ensure Colombo delivers on a pledge made in a previous round of talks in Switzerland in February to disarm groups that include a rival Tamil faction. The LTTE said their political wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan, expressed "concern and disappointment over non-fulfillment" of pledges relating to the activities rival Tamil militant groups. "Our expectations were very high when the government delegation pledged... to end para-military activities and we are totally disappointed," the LTTE quoted Thamilselvan as saying. The rebels had sought security guarantees to travel to Switzerland for talks tentatively scheduled for April 19-21 and issued veiled threats that they may not participate unless the rivals were contained by the government. The government has denied Tiger allegations that it supports a breakaway rebel faction and other groups to carry out attacks against the main guerrilla outfit. Hanssen-Bauer, Oslo's newly appointed emissary, travelled to the rebel-held northern town of Kilinochchi on Wednesday for discussions with the LTTE ahead of meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday. The envoy's visit came as the government's main Marxist ally, the JVP, or People's Liberation Front, called for expelling Norway as a peace broker. JVP spokesman Wimal Weerawansa accused Oslo of bias in favour of the Tamil Tigers and charged that it could become the first nation to recognise a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka. "Norway will be the first country to accept them (Tigers)," Weerawansa said in remarks published in the Daily Mirror newspaper here. Norway rejects any allegation of favouritism toward the rebels. The JVP call came after the government said Tuesday its peace moves had been boosted by local elections in which the JVP was routed. Colombo's chief peace negotiator, Nimal Siripala de Silva, said he told Hanssen-Bauer on Monday that last week's win had strengthened Rajapakse's hand in seeking peace. Political analysts and local media have said the president might call snap parliamentary polls if the JVP tries to block efforts to end the festering ethnic conflict. De Silva said he told Hanssen-Bauer there was no change in the government's goal of resolving the conflict through a negotiated settlement. More than 60,000 people have been killed since 1972. Hanssen-Bauer arrived Monday on his first official visit to the island. He will be joined Thursday by Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim, who is flying in for discussions with Rajapakse on the truce talks, officials said. The government and the LTTE held talks in Switzerland in February and agreed to meet again this month on salvaging their troubled ceasefire. (http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?newsID=1062246960&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=1)