Tamil rebels ask for UN recognition

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger have asked the United Nations to recognize their right to sovereignty as a "constructive" approach to ending the two-decade long civil war, the rebel group said.

"There is only one path open to regain the rights of the Tamil people and that is for the international community to recognize the sovereignty of the Tamil nation," B. Nadesan, head of the Tigers' political wing, said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

The letter was released late Wednesday.