Tamil Tiger leader alive, says Norway's foreign minister

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Jan 24, 2005

COLOMBO, Jan. 22 Kyodo

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen on Saturday shot down persistent rumors that Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran perished in last month's tsunami disaster.

''I met with him. Obviously he is alive,'' Petersen said following talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam hierarchy in rebel-held Kilinochchi in the north.

In brief remarks as he left the meeting place, Petersen, the first foreign official to meet the Tiger leader since the Dec. 26 tsunami, said the talks centered on the aftermath of the disaster, which killed an estimated 40,000 people along Sri Lanka's coast.

Several thousand died in the north and east of Sri Lanka claimed as a Tamil homeland by the LTTE.

''We discussed the victims (of the tsunami),'' Petersen said. ''The LTTE areas have been very badly affected and we would like to coordinate the aid.''

Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's chief political negotiator who flew to Sri Lanka to be with Prabhakaran at Saturday's meeting with the Norwegians, said that dealing with the disaster must take precedence over the ''political struggle.''

''The political struggle will continue but we will have to put that away now...We are concentrating on the natural disaster,'' he said.

Petersen was accompanied to Kilinochchi by Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and special envoy Erik Solheim, who have been handling the peace process in Sri Lanka facilitated by the Norwegian government.

Oslo succeeded in brokering a cease-fire between the LTTE and government forces in February 2002, but direct negotiations have been stalled since April 2003.

Petersen met with President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Friday prior to being flown by helicopter to Kilinochchi on Saturday for the meeting with the LTTE leader.