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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Indian rebel group offers peace with conditions |
| 2005-02-04 |
| GUWAHATI: A powerful rebel group in India's troubled northeast offered on Thursday to hold peace talks with New Delhi to end a four-decade revolt but set conditions unlikely to be accepted by the federal government. The outlawed United National Liberation Front (UNLF), battling for freedom for nearly two million people in the mountainous state of Manipur, said it was willing to "end the conflict once and for all" if New Delhi allowed UN mediation. A statement from UNLF chief Sana Yaima said authorities should organise a UN-monitored plebiscite in Manipur, replace federal forces with UN peacekeepers and transfer political power as mandated by the referendum. "Now it is up to the government of India to decide and reciprocate our gesture. We will wait for Delhi's response," Yaima said. Formed in 1964, the UNLF says it is waging an armed struggle against New Delhi's "colonial occupation" of the former princely state of Manipur. The group has about 1,200 combatants, including 100 highly trained women guerrillas. The UNLF, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and PREPAK, are three major rebel groups active in Manipur. The call by the UNLF comes after that rebel group and the PLA suffered heavy losses in the past three months during campaigns by the Indian military. Arms sourced from gun-runners in Southeast Asian countries had also been seized, an intelligence source said. |
| Posted by:Fred |