Agence France-Presse,
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's military on Monday demanded the complete surrender of the Tamil Tigers, rejecting rebel calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the government could not accept a conditional truce from the cornered Tamil Tigers and insisted that the guerrillas should unconditionally lay down arms first.
“Our position is that they must lay down arms and surrender,” Nanayakkara said. “There is no shift in our position.”
Sri Lanka's separatist rebels had earlier said they were ready to comply with international calls for a ceasefire but would not lay down their arms.
With the breakaway forces cornered in the northeast of the island by government troops, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) appealed to foreign powers to step in and broker a truce.
“The international community must do everything in its power to bring a ceasefire so that the miseries of the Tamils… are brought to an end,” a statement from the Tigers said.
