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Japanese Special Envoy Mr. Akashi meets LTTE Leader

Arriving by helicopter from Colombo, the visiting Japanese delegation was received in Killinochchi by the Deputy Head of LTTE's political division, Mr. S. Thangan. They were then received by Mr. Pirapaharan at the political secretariat. The meeting lasted over two hours.

The Japanese delegation comprised of Mr. Yasushi Akashi - Japanese Special Envoy, Mr. Seiichiro Otsuka - Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Takio Yamada - Director, Southwest Asia Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, Mr. Koji Yagi - Second Secretary, Embassy of Japan, Mr. Masatomi Oikawa - Second Secretary, Embassy of Japan and Mr. Ryousuke Kamono - Official, Southwest Asia Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan.

Dr. Anton Balasingam, Mr. S.P. Tamilselvan, Mrs. Adele Balasingam and Dr. Jay Maheswaran were present along with the LTTE leader Mr. Pirapaharan during the meeting.

In his dialogue with Mr. Yasushi Akashi, Mr. Pirapaharan detailed the long history of the Tamil struggle and the countless number of negotiations and agreements reached with successive Sinhalese Governments. He pointed out that no Sinhalese Government had ever put forward any concrete measures to solve the Tamil ethnic question. Mr. Pirapaharan made it clear to the Japanese special envoy that the Tamils are no longer going to be fooled by any Sinhala Government. In spite of the many decisions and agreements reached during the six rounds of negotiations, no substantial measures have been implemented to date. The government of Sri Lanka has failed to address the issue f the internally displaced people in the north and east. Mr. Pirapaharan indicated that the LTTE has by its decision to stand aside from further talks, given time and space for the Government of Sri Lanka to rectify the problem. He insisted that return of normalcy in the lives of our people and return of the internally displaced people were essential pre-requisites for the restoration of faith in the negotiating process.

At the end of the meeting Mr. Pirapaharan presented Mr. Akashi, a gift to mark the occasion. In return, Mr. Akashi also presented a gift to the LTTE leader.

In the early afternoon the Mr. Akashi and his delegation visited the mobile health service facility being run with the help of the Japanese NGO, Association of Medical Doctors - Asia (AMDA). Here they were given a guided tour by Mr. Arun, Health Services Chief of the LTTE and Dr. Sivapalan, a physician. AMDA representatives also participated in the tour and gave a first hand account of their activities to the visiting Japanese dignitaries. Mr. Akashi then visited the bombed ruins of the Killinochchi General Hospital destroyed by the Sri Lanka Security Forces during operation sathjeya.

The Japanese delegation returned to Colombo by helicopter around 3.30pm

07 May 2003

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