Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in his much-awaited annual policy statement said hard-line President Mahinda Rajapakse should put forward a "reasonable political framework" before next year.

"This is our urgent and final appeal," Prabhakaran said in a speech broadcast over the rebel Voice of Tigers radio.

"If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year... establish self-government in our homeland."

His remarks were awaited by Colombo and diplomats close to the island's Norwegian-backed peace initiative aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has left more than 60,000 people dead.

Prabhakaran did not directly respond to a call by new President Mahinda Rajapakse for a fresh peace process and "revision" of the tenuous truce in place since 2002.

The guerrilla leader said Norwegian-backed peace efforts had failed to redress the grievances of minority Tamils living in the island's embattled northern and eastern regions, much of it controlled by the Tigers.

"The past four years of the peace process have miserably failed to address the most urgent humanitarian needs faced by hundreds of thousands of Tamil refugees displaced by war and by the recent tsunami giving rise to hopelessness and disillusionment among our people," he said.

However, he said they were willing to wait for Rajapakse's next move before talking decisive action "next year."

Prabhakaran's annual speech was delivered at the end of "Heroes' Week," which commemorates their war dead. The celebration ends with his speech at the exact time the first Tiger militant was killed by Sri Lankan troops in 1982.

In signs of a hardening tone, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website quoted Tiger intelligence chief Pottu Amman as praising the rebels' "military feats" during Heroes' Week events and saying the sacrifices of the dead must lead to "sovereignty".

"The Tamil nation gained unprecedented strength through our military feats in the series of battles in (the rebel-held northern region of) Vanni against Sri Lankan armed forces who were intent on annihilating us," he said.

"The sacrifices of the... martyrs will be worth it only when we are victorious in achieving unfettered sovereignty," he added.

Prabhakaran said his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which lost nearly 18,000 fighters in a separatist campaign since 1972, would intensify a campaign for independence unless the government agreed to their demand.

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

"They are not prepared to be tolerant any longer. The new government should come forward soon with a reasonable political framework that will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people. This is our urgent and final appeal.

"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."

Tamil political sources said the Tigers had effectively put the new government on a little more than a month's notice after last year saying they had reached the "threshold of patience."

The Tiger guerrillas already maintain a de facto separate state in parts of the island's northeast where they have their own police, courts, civil administration and a tax system.

However, the group is outlawed in the US, Britain and several other countries and has been severely criticised for recruiting child soldiers and using suicide bombers to further its political objectives.

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