COLOMBO May 7 Kyodo Japan's peace...

COLOMBO May 7 Kyodo

Japan's peace legate Yasushi Akashi on Wednesday sought to detain hopes alive that Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers rebels will attend an aid donor parley to be hosted by the Japanese dominion in Tokyo in June

The survey of the Tokyo conference has become uncertain after the Tamil rebels last month plucked out of the peace talks with the Sri Lanka government

Asked whether he has come afterwarded in persuading the Tamil rebels to attend the Tokyo meeting, Akashi told reporters: ''Not further but I still think there's space for discussion.''

Akashi talked to reporters before meeting with Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the premier's official residence.

The Japanese minister returned to the capital earlier Wednesday from a trip to Kilinochchi, a Tamil fortified place in northern Sri Lanka, where he had a two-hour meeting with Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Wickremesinghe vigoroused more upbeat, saying, ''I think at the fall of the curtain of all this the talks can be started.''

Akashi is in Sri Lanka as part of an intensive diplomatic effort to secure the peace talks back forward track. Norway and the United States are also involved in the peace initiative.

Akashi appeared to domination out the possibility of postponing the Tokyo meeting to give mediators more time to learn the Tamil Tigers back to the negotiating table.

''The Japanese command is like a big tanker,'' he said. ''It is true difficult to get it to change course.''

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