Agence France Presse

Colombo, May 4:

Sri Lanka’s president said she is determined to reach a deal with Tamil rebels about the distribution of aid after the December tsunami, despite the risk it could see her shaky coalition collapse, it was reported today.

The government needs an agreement with the rebels so it can distribute foreign aid to rebel-held areas, some of which suffered huge damage in the disaster that killed nearly 31,000 people here and initially a million left homeless.

Foreign donors do not want to direct funds to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) because the group has been listed as a terrorist organisation in many countries, despite entering a peace process with the government in 2002.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga told religious leaders here yesterday she would press ahead with plans to forge a “joint mechanism” with the rebels to handle the aid, despite risks to her coalition, the state-run Daily News reported. “In the process, the government may fall... even I might lose the presidency, but those things are not of national interest unlike bringing lasting peace to the country,” the Daily News quoted her as saying.

Kumaratunga said last month the mechanism could be the foundation for a final peace deal for Sri Lanka, where more than 60,000 people have died in three decades of war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. However, her shaky coalition depends on the support of the Marxist JVP, or People’s Liberation Front, which is against the “joint mechanism”, saying the LTTE would use it to achieve their goal of establishing a Tamil homeland within the majority Sinhalese nation.

The LTTE unveiled its plan for the establishment of an interim self-governing authority (ISGA) in October 2003 but it was rejected by the ruling party. Kumaratunga also said yesterday the Tigers appeared to be willing to adopt democratic values and she was determined to push them in that direction, the Daily News said. “Every cloud has a silver lining and I believe the LTTE’s willingness to blend in with the democratic values itself is the dawning of that silver lining which is contrary to the their murderous past.”

“There is a high degree of practical possibility of bringing the LTTE to the negotiating table and later to the governing process through the joint mechanism since the LTTE for the first time has agreed to accept the sovereignty of the government,” she said.

Meet on tsunami

BANGKOK: Health experts will analyze the response to the Indian Ocean tsunami at a conference starting on Wednesday on battered Phuket island so that emergency workers are better prepared for the next disaster, the United Nations said. The May 4-6 conference, organized by the UN World Health Organisation, will analyze what worked and what did not, and come up with approaches to improve the health response to future natural disasters, a WHO statement said. — AP