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| Sri Lanka |
| 3 killed in LTTE ambush |
| 2006-01-24 |
| Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels ambushed and killed three soldiers in Sri Lanka’s restive east yesterday, as a Norwegian peace broker began a last-ditch bid to avert a slide back into civil war. US Under-secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns branded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a “reprehensible terrorist group keeping this country on the edge of war.” “We do believe the Tamil population has legitimate grievances,” Burns said after talks with government leaders in Colombo. And he underlined the “need for the government to make sure that there is no official support for the paramilitary groups” which attack the LTTE and its supporters. But he added: “Full responsibility here lies on the LTTE ... the organisation has to choose peace instead of the reprehensible policies of the last 10-20 years.” “The major part of the burden for peace rests on the organisation,” Burns insisted. In contrast, he called the government “democratic” and “responsible”, enjoying strong US support. Burns said the LTTE carried out yesterday’s attack in the east coast district of Batticaloa, where four people had died and 23 were wounded last Thursday. The latest blast, which also wounded four soldiers sweeping a highway for mines, raised to 149 the number of people killed in an upsurge of violence since December. Burns also met yesterday with Norway’s top peace envoy Erik Solheim, who arrived in a fresh bid to jump-start an ailing peace process amid fears that the bloodshed could reignite full-scale war. Solheim, Oslo’s international development minister, was to travel to LTTE-held territory tomorrow for talks with Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. The talks in the rebel-held northern town of Kilinochchi would focus on the “current situation and ground realities”, said the LTTE’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham. After months of arguing over a venue for peace talks, a government official said it was hoped a deal would be struck for a face-to-face meeting soon with the LTTE in either Oslo or Geneva after a near three-year break. “Solheim will be told that we are ready to compromise on the venue issue in the interest of getting talks started,” said the official, asking not to be named. The venue did not matter, Solheim said. “It could be in Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Colombo, Bangkok, EU, Norway, South Africa and even if they want to meet on the Moon we are ready,” he said. “The important thing is what is to be discussed, but not the venue.” Solheim added his voice to Burns in calling for an end to the bloodshed. “Everyone is worried about the present deterioration in the security situation in Sri Lanka. The key is to stop and reduce the killings,” he said. LTTE commander in chief Prabakharan warned President Mahinda Rajapakse last November to grant the minority Tamils autonomy or face war in 2006. Violence has soared since Rajapakse won elections that same month, pledging to rein in the LTTE and review Norway’s much-criticised role as peace-broker. But on the ground the LTTE has forced troops onto the defensive and Rajapakse has had to look to Norway for help in launching negotiations. US ambassador to Sri Lanka Jeffrey Lunstead issued a veiled warning to the LTTE in an article published in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal Asia which presumed the rebels were behind most of the bloodshed. “There can be a role for the LTTE in the future development of Sri Lanka, but only if it returns to the peace table, renounces terrorism in word and deed, and becomes a responsible participant in Sri Lanka’s future,” Lunstead wrote. “If the LTTE chooses to abandon peace, the cost of a return to war will be high. Through our modest military training and assistance programmes, we are helping to build a stronger, more capable and more determined Sri Lankan military.” US Under-secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Tiger attacks on the military were ruining the lives of ordinary people, many of whom fear a two-decade civil war that has already killed over 64,000 people could reignite. “We are a friend of this country,” he told a news conference in Colombo. “We support its territorial integrity ... The people of this country ought not to have to live for another 15 to 20 years with this reprehensible terrorist group keeping the country perched on the edge of war.” Burns said the U.S. hoped to finalise a financial aid package to Sri Lanka aimed at helping it rebuild after the 2004 tsunami and was also involved in training Sri Lankan soldiers. The US already brands the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — de facto rulers of a seventh of Sri Lanka — as a banned terrorist group alongside Al Qaeda, but Burns said there were significant differences between the two. He said the US realised the island’s Tamil minority, who dominate the poor and tsunami-hit north and east, had legitimate grievances — but that the Tigers must still abandon violence. Al Qaeda had no basis for negotiations with the U.S., he said. “We hope the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and indeed no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun,” he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |