Sri Lanka hails Tamil peace overture

Tamil Tiger soldiers stand guard during a rare press conference given by their leader

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka -- The Sri Lankan peace process has advanced into uncharted territory, with the island nation's prime minister welcoming peace overtures made by the leader of the rebel Tamil Tigers.

Hopes of an historic end to the 18-year separatist war are high following the government's positive response Thursday to the Tamil rebel leader's press conference the evening before -- the chief's first public appearance in 15 years.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe welcomed the conciliatory remarks of Velupillai Prabhakaran, saying they showed the rebels "are willing to work within the territorial integrity of the country." He expressed strong hopes for finding a political solution.

Despite the apparent goodwill between the government and rebels, much work still needs to be done to see the Norwegian-brokered peace plan come to fruition.

During the Wednesday press conference, staged amidst high security and secrecy over the eventual location, Prabhakaran said conditions were not yet right for giving up the demand for an independent Tamil state.

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But he did stress he was serious about ending the almost two decade-long separatist war in Sri Lanka.

"The right conditions have not arisen for the (Tigers) to abandon the policy of independent statehood," Prabhakaran said.

Mediation 'will succeed'

The news conference followed a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government signed on February 22, paving the way for peace talks next month in Thailand.

"With the mediation help by the Norwegian government, I believe this process will succeed this time," said Prabhakaran, founder and sole leader of the Tigers.

"The struggle for political independence is the demand of Tamil people," Prabhakaran said. "The question whether we accept the hegemony of the Sri Lankan government has not arisen."

Prabhakaran, 47, said the LTTE is "sincerely and seriously committed to peace."

"Because we are serious about the peace process, we have declared a unilateral cessation of hostilities," he said, speaking in Tamil. His comments were translated into English by his chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham.

The clean-shaven Prabhakaran appeared in a gray safari suit instead of his trademark battle fatigues and pistol at the hip.

The LTTE has been fighting to create a separate homeland in northern and eastern Sri Lanka since 1983, one of Asia's longest civil wars which has claimed more than 64,000 lives.

Prabhakaran is officially regarded as a terrorist by the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, India and Sri Lanka.

Indian mediation

Prabhakaran demanded that Sri Lanka lift the ban on the LTTE, calling it a precondition of the Thailand peace talks.

"Only after de-proscription will we take part in peace talks ... that is our problem," he said.

Prabhakaran addresses the news conference in Kilinochchi

In Thailand, the LTTE intends to discuss the establishment of an interim administration for the northern provinces, Prabhakaran said. He said he would not attend the talks, but would direct the negotiations, adding that Norway has asked India to mediate in the peace talks.

The Thailand talks have raised hopes for the first time in seven years of crafting an enduring peace in this Indian Ocean island famous for its tea and tropical beaches.

Prabhakaran runs the LTTE -- which has approximately 5,000 to 10,000 combatants -- from northern jungle hide-outs, dispatching squads of suicide bombers and guerrillas wearing cyanide capsules around their necks.

His fanatical followers include suicide bombers who have assassinated several leaders, including former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 and Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa in May 1993.

India relations

Prabhakaran described Gandhi's assassination "as a tragic incident" and said the Tigers "want to have friendly relations with India."

Local and foreign journalists were taken to the news conference after elaborate security measures.

The government and rebels cleared land mines from the highway journalists used to get to Kilinochchi, about 435 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital, Colombo.

In Kilinochchi, rebel soldiers checked the journalists' cameras, satellite phones and laptop computers, which they had to leave one kilometer (a half mile) from the conference site for security reasons.

Peace became a possibility in Sri Lanka after the election of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government in December on a promise to end the civil war by negotiations.

The Tamil Tigers want a separate state in northern Sri Lanka for the minority Tamils who comprise 3.2 million of the country's 18.2 million people. They complain of discrimination in jobs, education and politics by the Sinhalese majority, who make up 74 percent of the population.