UN official negotiated the surrender of LTTE members with Sri Lankan government

A top United Nations official said he had negotiated the surrender of a specific group of LTTE members with the Sri Lankan government while he was in Sri Lanka. UN Secretary-General's Chef de Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar disclosed this in response to questions received Wednesday.

Michele Montas, UN Spokesperson for Secretary-General said on Thursday that Nambiar was first approached by a Western journalist, Marie Colvin, with a surrender request and subsequently by an LTTE interlocutor, before he arrived in Sri Lanka.

He in turn relayed the insistence of the Sri Lankan Government that any surrender would have to be to the Sri Lankan armed forces and not through or to a third party, Ms. Montas said.

According to the spokeswoman, Nambiar has told the two senior LTTE members Nadesan and Puleedeevan who wanted to surrender that they need only display a white flag to the armed forces to safely effect their surrender.

The last request by Nadesan and Puleedeevan was conveyed to Nambiar through Ms. Colvin. It was also apparently transmitted directly to several other persons, including Colombo- based diplomats and politicians.

"These were in turn, we understand, communicated to high Governmental levels and were responded to with similar assurances," Ms. Montas said.

Dr. Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary, has denied that Nambiar contacted him either about Nadesan or Puleedeevan.

Sri Lankan Special Forces soldiers have found the bodies of Nadesan and Puleedeevan along with several other senior cadres during mop operations in the battlefield of the no-fire zone on May 18.

Meanwhile responding to media, the Spokeswoman said that the United Nations was following developments regarding the reports that the Sri Lankan government may bring charges against some journalists operating in the country, as well as the treatment of doctors there.