Sri Lanka's top rebel leader issued an ultimatum to the country's new government on Sunday: address the grievances of the Tamil minority or face a renewed struggle for independence.

Velupillai Prabhakaran, head of the Tamil Tigers rebel group, said President Mahinda Rajapakse must propose a framework that satisfies the political aspirations of the country's 3.2 million ethnic Tamils, who seek a separate homeland in the northeast.

He did not set a date for the government's response.

"If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland," Prabhakaran said during his annual speech on the day the Tigers pay homage to guerillas killed in fighting.

There was no immediate government reaction, but Sri Lanka's top military general said troops were ready to defend the country.

"We are always committed to the cease-fire but if they withdraw and attack us we are not going to just sit and watch. We are going to retaliate," Lt. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda told The Associated Press.

Prabhakaran said the patience of his people was running out.

"Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration," he said.

His speech came two days after Rajapakse rejected rebel demands for a homeland and promised to overhaul a 2002 cease-fire to curb violence and child recruitment by the Tigers. The conservative leader, voted into office this month, also vowed to revive stalled peace talks with the rebels.

More than 65,000 people were killed in nearly two decades of fighting before the cease-fire was reached. Peace talks following the truce broke down in April 2003 over rebel demands for greater autonomy in the Tamil-majority northeast.

The uneasy cease-fire continues despite frequent violence.

The Tigers rebelled in 1983 over discrimination against Tamils, a largely Hindu minority, by the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese, the majority of Sri Lanka's 19 million people.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies November 28, 2005)