WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has voiced concern over a flare-up of violence in Sri Lanka, and hopes Colombo and Tamil Tiger rebels will resume talks to reinforce their fragile truce, the State Department said.
Washington plans to dispatch a senior official to the troubled tropical Indian Ocean island soon to discuss the conflict, the department said on Friday.
Rice “expressed concern over the recent upsurge in violence in northern and eastern Sri Lanka” during talks with visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Thursday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, capping an official visit to Washington where he sought American help to avoid a slide back into war in the island state, said Colombo was “still willing to walk that extra mile for peace.”
“This is not because of any weakness but because we are a government committed to a negotiated settlement to this problem and we do not think that war is an option,” he told reporters.
“We want to bring international pressure on the LTTE to come and sit with us at the table to discuss the weaknesses of the cease-fire and find ways and means of strengthening it so these dastardly acts do not happen again,” Samaraweera added.
Rice and Samaraweera discussed the current status of the Sri Lankan peace process and the importance of strengthening the ceasefire, McCormack said.
“Secretary Rice reiterated the United States hope that talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on ways to strengthen the ceasefire could resume soon,” he said.
“She also lauded the Sri Lankan government for its restraint in the face of the Tamil Tigers’ provocations.”
Rice said the United States, co-chair of the Sri Lanka Donors Group along with Japan, the European Union and Norway, remained committed to working with Sri Lanka “to defeat terrorism and to promote peace.”
Washington has tagged the LTTE as a terrorist organisation.
Rice told her Sri Lankan counterpart that State Department Undersecretary Nicholas Burns ‘does intend to travel’ to Sri Lanka to discuss prospects of restoring peace.
“I think he’s (Burns) going to talk about a number of different issues: talk about facilitating the peace between the government and the LTTE, as well as other issues of regional concern,” McCormack said.
Amid the upsurge in violence, many are concerned Sri Lanka would descend again into civil war.
President Mahinda Rajapakse won November polls promising a brand new peace process that would have sidelined Norwegian peacebrokers. But he has now invited Oslo to continue its role, despite staunch opposition by his allies.
LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran had warned that unless Colombo - which has already ruled out a separate homeland for minority Tamils - gives them wide autonomy, the Tigers would ‘intensify their struggle’.
Rice praised Norway’s ‘important role’ in trying to facilitate the peace process even as Oslo struggled to bring the two parties to the table following a dispute over the venue of potential peace talks.
Washington plans to dispatch a senior official to the troubled tropical Indian Ocean island soon to discuss the conflict, the department said on Friday.
Rice “expressed concern over the recent upsurge in violence in northern and eastern Sri Lanka” during talks with visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Thursday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, capping an official visit to Washington where he sought American help to avoid a slide back into war in the island state, said Colombo was “still willing to walk that extra mile for peace.”
“This is not because of any weakness but because we are a government committed to a negotiated settlement to this problem and we do not think that war is an option,” he told reporters.
“We want to bring international pressure on the LTTE to come and sit with us at the table to discuss the weaknesses of the cease-fire and find ways and means of strengthening it so these dastardly acts do not happen again,” Samaraweera added.
Rice and Samaraweera discussed the current status of the Sri Lankan peace process and the importance of strengthening the ceasefire, McCormack said.
“Secretary Rice reiterated the United States hope that talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on ways to strengthen the ceasefire could resume soon,” he said.
“She also lauded the Sri Lankan government for its restraint in the face of the Tamil Tigers’ provocations.”
Rice said the United States, co-chair of the Sri Lanka Donors Group along with Japan, the European Union and Norway, remained committed to working with Sri Lanka “to defeat terrorism and to promote peace.”
Washington has tagged the LTTE as a terrorist organisation.
Rice told her Sri Lankan counterpart that State Department Undersecretary Nicholas Burns ‘does intend to travel’ to Sri Lanka to discuss prospects of restoring peace.
“I think he’s (Burns) going to talk about a number of different issues: talk about facilitating the peace between the government and the LTTE, as well as other issues of regional concern,” McCormack said.
Amid the upsurge in violence, many are concerned Sri Lanka would descend again into civil war.
President Mahinda Rajapakse won November polls promising a brand new peace process that would have sidelined Norwegian peacebrokers. But he has now invited Oslo to continue its role, despite staunch opposition by his allies.
LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran had warned that unless Colombo - which has already ruled out a separate homeland for minority Tamils - gives them wide autonomy, the Tigers would ‘intensify their struggle’.
Rice praised Norway’s ‘important role’ in trying to facilitate the peace process even as Oslo struggled to bring the two parties to the table following a dispute over the venue of potential peace talks.
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