Tamil Tigers stake their claim — SRI LANKA | 世界のニュースを英語で読むならジャパンタイムズウィークリー


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SRI LANKA
Tamil Tigers stake their claim

Chandrika Kumaratunga

The Tamil Tiger rebels, battling for a separate state for the past two decades, said April 5 that the general election validated their struggle for a homeland but vowed to fight on if their demands were not met.

The rebels did not give any indication if peace talks would restart soon or even if they would be able to work with what is likely to be a new coalition government.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance won the election April 4 but fell short of a majority in the 225-seat assembly.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said the result, which gave 22 seats in Parliament to the party it endorsed, the Tamil National Alliance, making it the third-largest party, showed it was a legitimate political force.

The election sent "a clear message" that the concept of a Tamil homeland should be politically resolved, "failing which the Tamil people will fight to establish Tamil sovereignty in their homeland on the principle of self-determination," the Tigers said in a statement.

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