June 10, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1424

TOKYO, June 9: Sri Lanka’s prime minister launched a major effort to revive peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday, saying he was willing to alter the constitution to meet their demand for a regional interim administration.

Speaking as donors pledged more than $2 billion for the country at the start of an aid conference in Tokyo, Ranil Wickremesinghe said once a political solution to end the 20-year conflict had been reached, his government would call a referendum to endorse changes to Sri Lanka’s constitution.

“We will introduce constitutional reforms when we have negotiated a final political solution, which we are fully committed to take to the people of Sri Lanka through a referendum for the ultimate decision,” he told the conference, itself seen as a crucial step towards cementing the fragile peace process.

The rebels, who walked out of peace talks in April citing the slow pace of rebuilding the Tamil-majority northeast and refused to attend the two-day Tokyo meeting, gave no clear response on Monday to the government’s offer.

“We will need to look at the speeches and what was said,” said an official close to the rebels in London.

The rebels had said they would consider resuming talks if the government agreed to an interim authority, which it had previously rejected as unconstitutional.

The rebels are demanding the authority because they want a bigger say in how aid is used.—Reuters