Tamils wary of Rajapakse

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse (L) gestures as he congratulates newly appointed Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (R) after an inauguration ceremony in Colombo yesterday.. PHOTO: AFP

"We know Mahinda. He has been a politician for a long time. And we don't trust him," said Daruniali Saravanam, owner of a roadside eatery outside Kilinochchi, political capital of the rebels.

"I think he wants war because he promised the JVP he would abandon the truce," said Saravanam, referring to the Marxist Peoples' Liberation Front (JVP) with whom Rajapakse had forged a pre-poll alliance to ensure their vote during the November 17 ballot.

The Tamil Tigers rebel group rebuffed new Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse's calls for peace talks, saying Sunday the hard-line leader does not understand their aspirations for a separate state on the Indian Ocean island.

After taking office Saturday, Rajapakse ruled out the rebels' demand for greater control over Tamil affairs, saying he would never let Sri Lanka be divided. But he pledged not to return the country to war and said he would initiate a new round of talks with the rebels.

Rajapakse on Monday swore in a hardliner as prime minister, who in the past has pushed for strong-arm tactics to end the civil war. The ceremony marked the start of 72-year-old Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka's third stint as premier.

The JVP believes too many concessions have been given to the Tigers and wants the entire Norwegian-led peace process renegotiated.

Peace talks between Colombo and the Tigers have been deadlocked since April 2003 although a truce signed in February 2002 still holds. The ethnic conflict between majority Sinhalese and the separatists claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.

"If Mahinda yields to them, we are heading for war," said Saravanam. "We are already in training for war. We can use any weapon. We don't like war but if war comes we will be ready for it."

Not a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), he is, however, a firm follower of rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

"We have our own leader and he is about to speak to us again," said Saravanam. "We will listen to whatever he says. He will know how to deal with Mahinda."

Prabhakaran, self-styled Sun God of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, uses Heroes' Day to make a rare public appearance, arriving at an unannounced venue at night to deliver a lengthy oration that is studied and dissected by his followers for the ensuing 12 months.

LTTE media director Daya Master told AFP here that Prabhakaran would this year use Heroes' Day -- November 27 -- to deliver the Tigers' response to Rajapakse's offer of fresh peace talks after he was sworn in Saturday as Sri Lanka's fifth president.

Saravanam, 50, who for Heroes' Day has splurged 25,000 rupees (250 dollars) on a series of posters depicting various facets of the Tamils' struggle for an independent homeland, said he would be listening to Prabhakaran's message on the radio.