MONDAY, 3.00PM
THE Tamil Federation of Gauteng confirmed on Monday that some of its members have donated money to the Tamil Tigers, who have been staging a separatist rebellion in Sri Lanka for the past 14 years.
The announcement came hours after President Nelson Mandela promised Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga he would personally investigate allegations that funds are flowing from South African donors to the rebel group (see below). About a thousand pro-Tiger expatriates demonstrated at the summit.
Gauteng Tamil president Murthi Sooboo says up to 55 percent of South African Indians are of Tamil origin and sympathetic to the separatist cause, even though they lack direct links with the Tigers.
Earlier in the day Mandela had told South African journalists in Edinburgh, where he had been attending the Commonwealth heads of state meeting, that he was concerned that Tamils in foreign countries,including South Africa, might be donating money to the insurgents.
The Tamil Tiger rebel have been blamed for planting a bomb two weeks ago in the capital, Colombo, that killed 18 people and injured more than 100.
MONDAY, 2.30PM
President Nelson Mandela has promised Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to investigate allegations that separatist Tamil Tigers are being funded in South Africa.
He told South African journalists on Monday at a briefing in Edinburgh, where he had been attending the Commonwealth heads of state meeting, that he was concerned that Tamils in foreign countries, including South Africa, might be donating money to the insurgents. According to government figures, 50 000 people have been killed in a 14-year separatist war, although rebel claims the toll is higher.
Mandela said he was not aware of reports on Tamil Tiger training camps in South Africa. The Tamil Tiger rebel have been blamed for planting a bomb two weeks ago in the capital, Colombo, that killed 18 people and injured more than 100.