4499

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Riding on the rhetoric that the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka are discriminated by the Sinhalese majority, LTTE wishes to create a separate Tamil nation out of the northern & eastern parts of Sri Lanka. This demand entails that the areas North and East are to be seceded, though there was on one occasion in 2002 when LTTE relented and agreed to settle for regional autonomy. The deal was brokered in 2002 by Norway. It was the first time a third party was involved in the peace talks between the Sri Lankan Government and LTTE. Unfortunately, further details of how LTTE and the Government should share authority in these regions could not be ironed out and the peace talks had been stalled since. Again on 18 Sep 2002 the Tigers stated that they would demand a separate Eelam only as a last resort. By 2005 it was clear that the organization was moving away from the peace talks. In the November 2005 Hero's Day message, Prabhakaran issued an ultimatum to the government. Produce a reasonable political framework that will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people, or risk an intensification of armed struggle in the following year. The following year on 27 November 2006, Prabhakaran stated that the Ceasefire Agreement had been rendered defunct by the actions of the Sri Lankan government. Nonetheless the organization did not explicitly declare war against the Sri Lankan government.