Rajapakse win irks Tamil Tigers

Rajapakse, after assuming office Saturday, reiterated his opposition to the Tamil Tigers' demand for an independent state on the Indian Ocean island. But he also said he did not want to return to war.

The rebels have demanded wide autonomy in the country's northeast, where most of the 3.2 million ethnic Tamils live, saying they can only prosper away from the domination of the Sinhalese majority.

"The pillars of the Tamil demand, namely, Tamil homeland, Tamil nation, and Tamil self-determination will never be accepted by them," the rebels said Sunday on their official Web site, referring to Rajapakse's hard-hitting speech and his supporters.

"There is no space to talk of a federal solution," they added.

Rajapakse narrowly defeated opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who favored granting the rebels more autonomy. An election boycott by the rebels prevented thousands of ethnic Tamils from casting ballots.

Rajapakse sought the support of hardline Sinhalese Buddhist and Marxist groups by promising to review the Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire that has grown increasingly fragile in recent months. The truce brought an end to fighting after nearly two decades of civil war.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought since 1983 for a Tamil homeland in the northeast, where they already run a de facto state. The war has claimed some 65,000 lives. The government and the rebels held six rounds of inconclusive peace talks before they were halted in April 2003 over the rebels' sweeping demands for autonomy.