Sri Lanka 's Tamil rebels stick to their demand for withdrawal of EU peace monitors

A Swedish diplomat met with top Tamil Tiger officials Friday, but failed to persuade the guerrilla leadership to drop a demand for the withdrawal of European Union peace monitors, the rebels said. The issue is the latest flash point in already strained relations between the rebels and Sri Lanka - 's government.

Anders Oljelund met with S.P. Thamilselvan, the political head of the rebels, and Seevaratnam Puleedevan, the head of the rebels' Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi, the rebel stronghold in the north.

After the meeting, Thamilselvan told reporters that there was no change in the rebels' position that EU monitors should leave by Sept. 1.

Earlier, government chief spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, said in Colombo that Oljelund was ``... trying to persuade the LTTE not to insist on their demand that the EU member states should quit the monitoring team.''

The rebels argue that since the EU in May listed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, as a terrorist group, monitors from Finland, Sweden, and Denmark could no longer be neutral.

Norway and Iceland are also part of the monitoring mission, but are not EU members.

Oljelund arrived in the capital Colombo on Wednesday. He will return to Sweden on Monday.

During their meeting, Thamilselvan also asked Oljelund to press the government to stop alleged harassment of Tamil civilians living in the northeast, the traditional homeland of ethnic Tamils.

No comment was immediately available from Oljelund.

Earlier, government spokesman Rambukwella said the administration wants the EU to continue its role as peace monitors. ``Our stand is clear that the EU member states should remain in the monitoring team,'' he said.

The Tamil Tigers demand comes amid a surge in violence between the insurgents and the government, threatening the four-year-old cease-fire and raising the prospect of all-out civil war.

More than 750 people have died since December with both sides accusing the other of violating the truce. About 65,000 people were killed between 1983 and 2002, when Norway brokered a cease-fire.

The rebels have fought the government demanding a separate homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils saying they can only prosper away from the domination of majority Sinhalese.

Associated Press writer Dilip Ganguly contributed to this report from Colombo