SRI LANKA: VIDEO OF TAMIL TIGER LEADER VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN THREATENS TO RESUME WAR. / CEREMONY MARKING MEMORIAL FOR THE WAR DEAD AT KILINOCHCHI.

Record ID: 646745

  • Title: SRI LANKA: VIDEO OF TAMIL TIGER LEADER VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN THREATENS TO RESUME WAR. / CEREMONY MARKING MEMORIAL FOR THE WAR DEAD AT KILINOCHCHI.
  • Date: 27th November 2004
  • Summary: (W5) UNKNOWN LOCATION , SRI LANKA (NOVEMBER 27, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Tamil) (NO ACCURATE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE) TAMIL TIGERS REBEL LEADER VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN ON A TELEVISED ADDRESS, SAYING THE TIGERS HAVE REACHED THE LIMIT OF THEIR PATIENCE. 0.11 (W5) KILINOCHCHI, NORTHERN SRI LANKA (NOVEMBER 27, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 2. VARIOUS: DESERTED ROADS AND CLOSED SHOPS. (3 SHOTS) 0.28 (W5) UNKNOWN LOCATION, SRI LANKA (NOVEMBER 27, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Tamil) (NO ACCURATE TRANSLATION AVAILABLE) TAMIL TIGERS REBEL LEADER VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN ON A TELEVISED ADDRESS, SAYING THE TIGERS HAVE REACHED THE LIMIT OF THEIR PATIENCE 0.44 (W5) KILINOCHCHI, NORTHERN SRI LANKA (NOVEMBER 27, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 4. VARIOUS: RELATIVES OF TAMIL FIGHTERS AT CEMETERY. (6 SHOTS) 1.26 5. MV: BAND PLAYING AT OPENING OF CEREMONY MARKING MEMORIAL FOR WAR DEAD. 1.34 6. MV: PEOPLE GATHERING FOR OFFICIAL FUNCTION AS BAND PLAYS. 1.47 7. WS: FLAGS. 1.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KILINOCHCHI, NORTHERN SRI LANKA/UNKNOWN LOCATION, SRI LANKA
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Reuters ID: LVA4FMWYYYCAMW8XJ3SPWPIRCHJ9
  • Story Text: Sri Lanka's feared Tamil Tiger rebels threatened on
    Saturday to resume a two-decade war for self rule.



    Sri Lanka's feared Tamil Tiger rebels threatened
    on Saturday (November 27) to resume a two-decade war for
    self-rule that killed more than 64,000 people if the
    government does not agree to discuss their demands soon.

    In a strongly worded annual address to mark the rebels'
    war dead, shadowy leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said the
    Tigers had reached the limit of their patience and said the
    government's Marxist coalition ally was blocking chances of
    peace.

    "We urge the government to resume the peace
    negotiations without conditions, based on our proposal for
    an interim self-governing authority," Prabhakaran said in
    the policy
    statement, broadcast on radio from an undisclosed location
    in the rebels' northern stronghold.

    "If the government of Sri Lanka rejects our urgent
    appeal and adopts delaying tactics, perpetuating the
    suffering of our people, we have no alternative other than
    to advance the
    freedom struggle of our nation," he added.

    The government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
    agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Norway in 2002. The truce
    is holding, but the Tigers pulled out of peace talks last
    year, leaving hopes of sealing permanent peace in limbo.

    The Tigers already have de facto rule over large areas
    of the Indian Ocean island's north and east, which they
    consider their homeland of Tamil Eelam.

    But they want their homeland to encompass the northern
    town of Jaffna as well as key towns in the east and want
    their right to self-government to be enshrined in the
    constitution.

    The two sides have been locked in a catch-22 for
    months. President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government
    insists the rebels must agree to discuss lasting peace
    before any
    self-rule. The rebel group, which the United States has placed on a
    list of banned terrorist organisations, demands
    self-rule before it will even start to discuss permanent
    peace.

    Compounding matters, the government's Marxist coalition
    partner, the Sinhalese nationalist JVP, has voiced rabid
    opposition to giving the Tigers autonomy.

    As Prabhakaran spoke, thousands of relatives of fallen
    cadres tended graves in tidy cemeteries in rebel-held areas
    adorned with brightly coloured flags. Others stopped at
    booths covered with pictures of hundreds of the 17,800
    Tiger 'martyrs' killed since the war began in 1983.

    The faltering peace bid has been strained in recent
    months by a spate of killings in the restive east and the
    capital, Colombo, which the military blames on infighting
    among the
    rebels after a top Tiger commander defected in April. In
    the meantime, economists say the stalemate is choking the
    Indian Ocean Island's economic potential, as many investors
    remain mindful of the mayhem of suicide bomb attacks at the
    height of the rebels' war.


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