ANC-LTTE meet in South Africa

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2003, 10:42 GMT]
The African National Congress (ANC) in a statement issued on Monday said that the ANC is meeting with members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) delegation currently on a study tour to South Africa. The ANC would also meeting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando on Tuesday, the statement said.

Full text of the press statement issued by the ANC follows:

"The African National Congress is meeting a delegation from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam today (Monday, 1 December) led by the Secretary General of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, Mr S. Puleedevan. This will be followed by a meeting on Tuesday (2 December) with the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, the Hon Mr Tyronne Fernando.

The aim of these meetings is to share experiences of the South African multi-party negotiations process in an effort to assist the Sri Lankan peace process.

The delegation from the Tamil Tigers will have a courtesy meeting with the ANC Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General and Treasurer General, before meeting with members of the ANC's former multi-party negotiations team.

They will also meet with representatives of the South African Human Rights Commission, Independent Electoral Commission and Constitutional Court. They will also meet the ANC provincial leadership in KwaZulu Natal and Western Cape to discuss their experiences of coalition partnerships.

The ANC is committed to assist the parties in Sri Lanka to achieve a peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict in that country. We hope that our own experience of an inclusive negotiations process may be of use to the different parties in Sri Lanka."