| The Tigers are adamant
now that the only way out of the current impasse
is for the Sri Lankan government to give them control of an interim
administration for the northeast. If they're given a
draft framework for such a body, the rebels say they are
willing to resume negotiations.
But the Tigers complain the government's current proposal for
a joint development body is just a new bureaucracy created within
a system that's failed to deliver. Even the government concedes
rehabilitation of the conflict
areas has been woefully slow during
the last fifteen months of this peace process and it's led to
major disagreement about how best to administer development funds
for the war ravaged north east.
Mistrust now runs so deep that the Tigers have withdrawn from
the pledging conference next week
in Japan, as well as peace talks. But the head of the government's
negotiating team, G L Peiris, said they still expected to secure
three billion dollars worth of pledges from the international
community even with the absence of the Tigers.
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adamant: determined
impasse: a difficult situation
where progress is impossible
interim: temporary
draft: an early version of something
resume: restart
concedes: admits
rehabilitation: renewal, improvement
woefully: extremely, disappointingly
war ravaged: destroyed by the
effects of war
pledges: promises
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