March 25, 2002	Monday	Muharram 10, 1423

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MALE (Maldives), March 24: The chief negotiator of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels arrived at this Indian Ocean atoll nation on Sunday on his way home, ending three years of self exile, witnesses said.

Anton Balasingham flew into the Maldive’s Male International Airport from London on Sunday and was spending the night at the airport hotel located on the airport island of Hululle, they said.

Security had been provided by the Maldivian National Security Service (NSS).

Balasingham is due to travel to Sri Lanka on Monday for talks with the elusive supremo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Velupillai Prabhakaran, who is hiding somewhere in the north of the island.

Before his departure from England, Balasingham was quoted as saying in a Sri Lankan newspaper that Prabhakaran will address possibly his first press conference in decades.

Prabhakaran was set to meet with local and foreign journalists before mid April, the Sunday Leader quoted him as saying.

Balasingham himself was to be escorted to Sri Lanka by Norweigian peace brokers who are arranging for him to travel home to prepare the ground for possible direct peace talks with Colombo.—AFP