MATARA (Sri Lanka) — Visiting former US president Bill Clinton declared yesterday he was happy to learn that the government and Tamil parties had begun working together after the tsunami disaster urging the two parties to use the opportunity to narrow the differences.President Chandrika Kumaratunga who met former presidents Clinton and George Bush over dinner, had informed them that the government and the LTTE were trying to reach a working arrangement to oversee reconstruction work in the North and East. Clinton said he too had personal differences with his one time rival George Bush but the two of them have come together to help raise private funds for tsunami-affected countries.
The two former presidents fielded questions from the media after visiting a camp run by a US Christian Children's Fund for children affected by the tsunamis in Habaraduwa in the Matara district. "We want the government of Sri Lanka to have a plan" finalised for its requirements and a monitoring process to ensure equitable distribution of foreign funds, said Clinton adding that the Indonesian authorities had already set up an independent authority to overlook post tsunami reconstruction.
Bush said he was very appreciative of the work done by the US marines noting that despite fears by various quarters, "they came, they helped, they worked side by side with Sri Lankans and they left."