COLOMBO (AFP) — Tamil Tiger rebels said Thursday they were ready to revive a dying ceasefire abandoned by Sri Lanka's government and urged Norway to maintain its peace efforts despite escalating fighting.
In its first public reaction to the government's withdrawal from the 2002 truce earlier this month, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) expressed willingness to salvage the ceasefire, the basis of a moribund peace process.
"The LTTE wishes to state that even at this juncture, it is ready to implement every clause of the CFA (ceasefire) agreement and respect it 100 percent," a statement from the rebels said.
There was no immediate reaction from the government, which blames the ethnic rebels for the collapse of the deal.
The defence ministry said fighting was continuing in the north, with another 24 Tiger rebels and a government soldier killed.
The latest official figures raised rebel losses to 163 this month alone, with only eight troopers killed in the same period. There is no independent verification of the wildly differing claims by both sides.
The Tigers said they wanted Norway to revive peace efforts and end Asia's longest running civil war, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.
"We also request that Norway should continue with its facilitation role with the support of the international community," the Tigers said. Sri Lanka's government last week signalled that it wanted Norway's role to end.
The LTTE -- listed as a "terrorist" organisation by the United States and the European Union -- also appealed to the international community to reconsider its ban and for recognition of the group's bid to carve out a separate state in the north and east.
The guerrilla organisation wants the global community to "accept the just aspirations of the Tamil people, and recognise the right of the Tamil people to live with self-determination in their homeland".
The statement came after the head of the LTTE's political wing, B. Nadesan, met the outgoing Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) chief Lars Solveberg.
The Tigers said they were "shocked" and "disappointed" with Colombo's decision to pull out of the truce.
This is in stark contrast to its stance in November, when the group's supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in his annual policy statement, signalled they were ready for all-out war.
"Thousands of our fighters are standing ready to fight with determination for our just goal of freedom and we will overcome the hurdles before us and liberate our motherland," Prabhakaran had said.
Sri Lanka's military began the New Year with a vow to crush the Tigers by June. They set a target to kill 3,000 guerrillas in the first six months and dismantle the rebels' mini-state in the north.
President Mahinda Rajapakse also ruled out any negotiations with the Tigers before crushing them militarily. The authorities are confident they enjoy the upper hand on the battlefield.
Six rounds of direct peace talks and two further rounds aimed at saving the truce ended in October 2006, leaving the 2002 deal in tatters.
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