Tigers submit peace proposals

By Frances Harrison
BBC correspondent in Colombo

The Tigers want to dominate an interim administration

Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have handed over their first proposal for power sharing aimed at resolving two decades of ethnic conflict.

The 12-page document has taken months to draft and is said by the Norwegian peace process mediators to be the most detailed statement of the rebels' political aspirations for 17 years.

The proposals envisage the setting up of a rebel-dominated interim administration in the areas of conflict.

The head of the Tamil Tigers political wing presented the proposal to the Norwegian ambassador, who will hand it to the Sri Lankan Government.

Talks pledge

The document, which has yet to be made public, outlines the general principles for the interim administration in the north-east.

It comes in response to suggestions from the government for development councils and other bodies that have been rejected by the Tigers as lacking sufficient power.

The Tigers have said they will resume peace talks suspended in April on the basis of their proposal.

The government is hoping the rebel document does not make too many politically sensitive demands and leaves the difficult details of implementation to be discussed in private at the negotiating table.

Controversy is likely to arise over who controls key areas such as revenue, land and security, which the government has so far been reluctant to grant the Tigers.

And opponents of the peace process are likely to say it is wrong to hand over any powers, even interim ones, to the rebels without some promise of disarmament.

The Tigers have ruled this out until there is a final political settlement.