Tigers demand direct tsunami relief

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they were no longer interested in sharing the three billions dollars of assistance pledged by foreign donors with the Sri Lankan government after Friday's ruling.

On Friday Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, citing constitutional issues, blocked the deal to share foreign aid between Colombo and Tiger rebels who have waged a separatist war that has left more than 60,000 dead since 1972.

The deal, reached with the help of Norway almost six months after tsunamis devastated the island nation, killing nearly 31,000 and leaving one million homeless, is now in limbo.

The LTTE's political wing chief S.P. Thamilselvan was quoted by their website as saying they were "not concerned any more" about the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS) set up to bring relief to hundreds of thousands still suffering the effects of the tsunamis.

"He said that they will be putting greater effort into informing the international community about the ground reality and request them to make the decision to deliver aid directly to them," the website said.

Sri Lanka's international donors had insisted on the joint aid mechanism, as many can not give money directly to the LTTE because of the group's designation as a foreign terrorist organisation by many states.

The collapse of the tsunami aid deal has increased tensions in the country's volatile northeast, and is seen as a major setback to the peace process and fragile truce in place since February 2002.