A de facto state in NE, CBK tells world media
By Rohan Gunasekara in Singapore
The Tamil Tigers had set up a 'de facto' separate state in the North and East since signing a truce with the government and resuming peace talks, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga told the international media in Singapore last week.

"The LTTE wants an interim administration without any commitment to a negotiated settlement while it keeps strengthening itself," she told a news conference after giving a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum's East Asia Summit where she had addressed a gathering of top business and political leaders.

In the past two years the LTTE's strength has grown to around 20,000 from 6,000 and the rebels had been caught smuggling in arms nine times, she said. "They have, in short, established a de facto separate state - they have a separate police, courts, banks, a tax collection system. The government is turning a blind eye to all this" she said.

The LTTE wants to exclusively run the interim administration and was not prepared to give other Tamil parties or the Sinhala and Moslem communities in the north-east region any representation, Ms. Kumaratunga said.

The Tigers want an interim administration without any commiment to giving up their demand for a separate state, decommissioning arms and entering democratic politics, she said. "Whether the state can agree is the question" she said. However, she insisted that peace talks must resume, saying: "Even with the most ruthless terrorists one has to talk. War is no answer."

She said the government was keeping her in the dark about the peace process and that neither the Cabinet, except for one or two ministers, nor Parliament nor the people knew what was going on.

Asked if as the Executive President she has the final say on any peace settlement, she replied: "Quite definitely. The Constitution is quite clear on this." She said she would have adopted a different approach and that she had remained silent so far to give Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe 'space' to try to resolve the ethnic problem but had been warning him about the problems and pitfalls of the process.

Asked about the chances of reconciliation with the Prime Minister, President Kumaratunga said: "I'm an eternal optimist. I'll keep trying. But the country can't suffer for much longer. There are constitutional alternatives."

Back to Top

Back to News

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contact us: | Editorial | | Webmaster|