Tigers reject Lanka's latest peace initiative

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation, launched by President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Monday to try to broaden the peace process, did not address their demands.

Tiger political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan told the BBC's Tamil-language service that many committees had been formed by successive governments but none had tackled their demands.

Thamilselvan, speaking from Geneva, described the council as a "time-wasting tactic" and said stalled peace negotiations could resume on the basis of the LTTE's proposal for an "Interim Self-Governing Authority," or self-rule.

"There is also a widespread campaign against us saying we are creating hurdles for the revival of the peace process, which is totally untrue," Thamilselvan said.

Peace broker Norway urged the Tigers to stop killing their rivals and warned that the spate of attacks undermined a fragile truce arranged by Oslo and put in place since February 2002.

Norway's deputy foreign minister Vidar Helgesen expressed "growing concern" over political assassinations blamed on the LTTE, the Norwegian embassy said in a statement.

Helgesen, a key figure in brokering peace on the island, conveyed Oslo's concerns to Thamilselvan who is leading a Tiger delegation to Europe to drum up support for the self-rule plan.