Associated Press, Tue November 28, 2006 02:56 EST . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Sri Lanka's government said on Tuesday it has asked peace broker Norway and European cease-fire monitors to find out if Tamil Tiger rebels have officially withdrawn from a four-year-old cease-fire, after their top leader called the pact ``defunct.''
``We have asked Norway and the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) to inquire whether the LTTE is out of the cease-fire agreement,'' government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said, referring to the rebels by an acronym for their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Rambukwella said that the government's future course of action will depend upon the rebels' response.
Top guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in his annual ``Martyrs' Day'' speech on Monday called a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire with the government ``defunct'' and said a separate independent country for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority was the only option.
However, Prabhakaran stopped short of declaring an official withdrawal from the cease-fire agreement, which requires any side wanting to walk away to give a 14-day notice.
Tamil Tiger rebels have fought the government since 1983 for a separate homeland for minority Tamils.
``We have asked Norway and the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) to inquire whether the LTTE is out of the cease-fire agreement,'' government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said, referring to the rebels by an acronym for their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Rambukwella said that the government's future course of action will depend upon the rebels' response.
Top guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in his annual ``Martyrs' Day'' speech on Monday called a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire with the government ``defunct'' and said a separate independent country for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority was the only option.
However, Prabhakaran stopped short of declaring an official withdrawal from the cease-fire agreement, which requires any side wanting to walk away to give a 14-day notice.
Tamil Tiger rebels have fought the government since 1983 for a separate homeland for minority Tamils.
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