| It does put a damper on opening day ceremonies. |
COLOMBO - International donors have called off a key meeting with Tamil Tiger rebels to protest the assassination of a senior military officer, officials said on Thursday. Chief representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN Development Program and the International Monetary Fund in Colombo, were to fly Friday to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi to meet with the head of the Tigers' political wing, S.P. Thamilselvan.
The meeting has been put off indefinitely as the murder this week of Maj. Nizam Muthalif made it inappropriate to hold the talks, senior officials said on condition of anonymity.
"You going?"
"I ain't going. You going?"
"Nope." |
Muthalif was killed by gunmen as he sat in his car in Colombo. The government suspects rebels in the attack.
Residents in Tamil-majority areas controlled by the Tigers have complained that international aid has been slow to reach them since the devastating earthquake and tsunami of Dec. 26. International donors, who pledged nearly US$3 billion to Sri Lanka, have been reluctant to give any funds directly to the guerrillas, who are listed as terrorists by the United States, Britain and India. But the talks Friday were to discuss a proposed deal between the government and the rebels that will make them partners in distributing aid to the Tamil-dominated north and east.
Muthalif was the highest ranking intelligence officer to be killed in the 20-year-civil war. His body was riddled with bullets and he died before doctors could operate on him.
| Sounds like ideological purity and mayhem were more important than getting their hands on the boodle. |
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