Colombo: Tamil Tigers on April 24 decided to boycott a crucial panel on humanitarian issues, set up as part of the Norway-backed peace talks between the rebels and the Sri Lankan government.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which suspended peace talks with the Sri Lankan government on April 21, said it will indefinitely boycott the Sub-committee on Immediate Humanitarian Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN).

The SIHRN is a key element of the Norwegian-backed peace process and has special Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi as its top advisor.

However, LTTE said the government could still restore confidence in the process by implementing decisions agreed at previous meetings of the panel.

"It is our leadership's wish to await action and implementation on urgent matters…prior to setting a date for the next meeting," LTTE's political wing leader S P Thamilselvan said in a letter to the top government representative at SIHRN, Bernard Gunatilleke.

"As you are aware, urgent action is required on resettlement and rehabilitation of internally displaced people and refugees," Thamilselvan said.

The latest boycott by the Tigers came despite the April 21 decision to send a representative from London to attend the SIHRN meet scheduled for the weekend.

The Tigers said they were expecting the government to "urgently seek" the money pledged by foreign donors at a meeting in Oslo in November 2002 and spend it through the North East Reconstruction Fund (NERF).

PTI