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Arms surrender urged

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Sunday demanded that Tamil Tiger guerrillas lay down their arms before a resumption of peace talks as the rebels vowed to fight on for independence.

Kumaratunga in an interview with the state-run Sunday Observer said the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) must lay down arms to open negotiations on a political package to resolve the ethnic conflict.

"They must definitely agree to stop hostilities. They must lay down arms even symbolically and then we will discuss the peace package with them," she said.

Kumaratunga expressed doubts if the LTTE would agree to return to the negotiating table unless it was sufficiently weakened militarily. Over 700 soldiers and more than 1,000 rebels have died in fresh fighting since April.-AFP