Tamil Tigers issue peace process warning

Tamil Tiger rebels warned today that the Sri Lankan president’s decision to dissolve Parliament and call snap elections was “a grave setback” to the island’s frail peace process.

However, the rebels’ chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, vowed they would not break a two-year-old Norwegian-brokered cease-fire.

“In spite of the political turmoil and uncertainty in Colombo, our liberation organisation will rigidly observe the cease-fire regulations and maintain peace,” Balasingham said.

On Saturday, President Chandrika Kumaratunga dissolved Parliament and ordered fresh polls for April 2.

The elections will be the country’s third in four years.

Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have been locked in a bitter political feud since November 4, when the president seized three ministries, including defence.

She has accused Wickremesinghe, who has spearheaded the peace process, of making too many concessions to the rebels.

The power struggle has threatened to derail peace negotiations suspended since last April over the rebels’ demands for more autonomy.

Sri Lanka’s stock market plummeted 11% today in reaction to the developments.

Rebel negotiator Balasingham said the president’s move “constitutes a grave setback to the peace process”.

“The decision to seek another mandate from the people clearly demonstrates the fact that the Sinhala political leadership lacks the political will and vision to resolve the country’s burning issue – the Tamil national question,” he added, referring to the majority Sinhalese ethnic group.

Balasingham called on Sri Lankans to support those who “are seriously committed to peace and peaceful resolution of the Tamil ethnic conflict”.

He also pleaded to international donors for humanitarian aid for minority Tamils, most of whom live in the war-shattered northeast.