Tigers push for tsunami deal with Sri Lankan government

Tamil Tiger rebels Thursday pushed for "serious engagement" with Sri Lanka's government to share billions of dollars of tsunami aid despite official fears that such a deal threatens the president's life.









Tamil Tiger rebels Thursday pushed for "serious engagement" with Sri Lanka's government to share billions of dollars of tsunami aid despite official fears that such a deal threatens the president's life. The top negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Anton Balasingham, told Norwegian peace brokers that the rebels were keen to establish a joint mechanism with Colombo to disburse millions of dollars in relief.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga vowed Monday she will press ahead with a plan to establish the mechanism with the Tigers despite "extreme danger" to her life and opposition from within her own coalition.

The "president must engage seriously with the LTTE in finalising the terms of the joint mechanism and sign the agreement to enable aid to flow to the Northeast," the pro-rebel Tamilnet.

com website quoted Balasingham as saying.

It said he told Norway's special envoy Erik Solheim in London Wednesday that there should be "concrete action" on the part of the Colombo go