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LTTE holds meet to frame counter-proposals

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO Sept. 23. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) today began another round of "internal discussions'' on its "counter-proposals'' to be given to the Sri Lankan Government for an interim administration in the northeast.

The LTTE's senior military commander for the east, V. Muralitharan (a.k.a. `Col' Karuna) and other eastern rebel leaders are taking part in this meeting, held in the rebel-held Kilinochchi.

The internal meeting comes a day after representatives of the multilateral donor community based in Sri Lanka and the LTTE discussed a range of development and political issues in Kilinochchi on Monday.

At the two-hour meeting, the LTTE's political wing leader, S.P. Tamilchelvan, briefed country representatives of the World Bank, the IMF, the ADB and the UNDP, on the current status of the interim administration proposals "and dealt at length about the sense of disappointment and frustration in the minds of the Tamil people'' over the "non-implementation of various articles in the ceasefire agreement'', the LTTE said after the meeting.

The representatives of the donor community who took part in today's meeting include: Jeremy Carter, Senior Resident Representative of IMF, Miguel Bermeo, Resident Representative of UNDP, John R. Cooney, Country Director of ADB, and Peter Harrold, Country Director for World Bank, the LTTE said.

The role of the international community in the latest peace process has been described by the Government as a significant change from past attempts. It may be recalled that the international community pledged financial assistance for $ 4.5 billions during the June donors' conference held in Tokyo to support the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Sri Lanka.

The LTTE had boycotted that meeting, which linked disbursement of funds to visible progress at the ground level and also emphasised the importance of adhering to human rights as one of the yardsticks of progress.

Today's meeting takes place at a time when the LTTE is preparing its counter-proposals for an interim administration, which is expected to be ready by mid-October.

The LTTE has already rejected three offers by the Sri Lankan Government for a development-oriented structure and has said that it needs a "politico-administrative mechanism'' to run the north-east. Colombo's latest offer for a Provisional Administrative Structure, with an in-build majority for the LTTE, but excluded powers over police, land, revenue and security, was described by the rebels as "failing to meet the aspirations of the Tamils''.

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