Donors ask Lanka to keep war rhetoric down

The United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway, co-chairs of efforts to drum up international financial support for Sri Lanka's peace bid, said they were concerned about killings as well as rhetoric in campaigning for next month's presidential vote.

"The co-chairs look to all parties to refrain from violence and from statements and acts that could undermine progress toward the peaceful resolution of the conflict after the elections," they said in a statement issued after a meeting in New York on Monday.

The co-chair members stressed that a peaceful resolution to Sri Lanka's drawn out ethnic conflict could be achieved only through a negotiated political settlement based on a federal state.

The ruling party's candidate for the November 17 ballot, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, has vowed to overhaul the Norwegian-led peace process and drop plans for a federal state.

The co-chairs said the August 12 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at his Colombo home had cast a shadow over the peace process between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The killing was the "most serious challenge" since a truce agreement went into effect in February 2002, the statement said.

The co-chairs stopped short of accusing the Tigers of being responsible for his death. Colombo, however, has accused the Tigers of carrying out the killing of Kadirgamar, an ardent critic of the guerrillas, while the rebels have denied any involvement.

"This unconscionable act of terrorism casts profound doubt on the commitment of those responsible to a peaceful and political resolution of the conflict.

"The co-chairs call on the LTTE to take immediate public steps to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and their willingness to change," the statement said.

"An immediate end to political assassinations by the LTTE and an end to LTTE recruitment of child soldiers are two such steps."

The Tigers for their part have accused the government of supporting paramilitary groups to lead attacks against them, a charge denied by the military.

"The co-chairs deplore the activities of paramilitary groups, which fuel the cycle of violence and unrest," the statement said.

"The co-chairs underscore the responsibility of the Sri Lankan government under the ceasefire agreement to disarm or relocate these groups from the north and east."

Shortly after the slaying of the foreign minister, Colombo asked for a review of the truce but efforts to find a venue acceptable to both sides for the meeting have so far failed.

The Tigers agreed to travel abroad for the talks or hold them in rebel-held territory, a position rejected by the government. A proposal by Norway to have the talks at the international airport here was turned down by the Tigers.

"The co-chairs are disappointed that the LTTE have not agreed to the proposed venue for talks with the government of Sri Lanka about implementation of the ceasefire agreement," the statement said.

The LTTE's political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan told AFP in a weekend interview that they were ready to have truce talks "even in the next minute" if government representatives agreed to travel to their political headquarters at Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres (206 miles) north of here.