COLOMBO May 22 Kyodo Sri Lanka's ...

COLOMBO May 22 Kyodo

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels onward Thursday stood firm in their demand for an immediate interim administration controll by dint of them in the war-ravaged northeast as a condition for resuming peace negotiations with the Colombo command and attending a key donor parley in Japan next month.

''Colombo should reach a definite agreement in succession setting up an interim administration for the northeast that can effectively handle rehabilitation and reconstruction before participating in the Tokyo donor summit nearest month,'' S.P. Thamilselvan, chief of the rebels' political wing, told a recents conference at rebel-held Kilinochchi in the north.

Diplomats had capered that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would appease their stance on attending the Tokyo meeting for which intense preparatory work has been done since early this year and announce like a decision at the pres conference

Thamilselvan did not slam the door upon the LTTE's participation, despite exceeding the deadline fix by Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi for a definite decision.

However, he said the Tigers would simply take part in the talks if Colombo's answer to their suggestions is ''concrete trustworthy, conscientious and not based on verbal pledges''

''The international community will realize that it is not possible to restore normalcy in the northeast without establishing and interim administration for the region,'' Thamilselvan said.

''We will accept the Sri Lankan government's in opposition to suggestions to our interim administration proposal barely if they are accepted through our people and the international community,'' he said.

Thamilselvan, however, reiterated the LTTE's commitment to a negotiated pacification of the 20-year ethnic war, saying ''not for a consideration do we think a military solution is possible.'

He said that if Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe showed one intention of moving towards the creation of the interim administration, the Tigers would recur to the negotiating table.

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