US warns LTTE not to restart war

COLOMBO: US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead made it clear that Washington wanted the “cost of return to war to be high” to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). If the LTTE “abandon peace”, they would face a “stronger, more capable and more determined” Sri Lankan military, TamilNet quoted Lunstead as saying.

Sri Lanka is at a tricky point in its history, the US ambassador said. It was not clear “if Sri Lanka was at a crossroads, or at a cliff’s edge”. His comments come at a time when the LTTE has renewed carefully planned attacks on Sri Lankan security forces, leaving around 50 personnel from the army and navy dead since December.

The attacks have sparked widespread fears that Sri Lanka may be slipping towards a renewed armed conflict, which was put in abeyance since a Norway-brokered peace pact was signed by Colombo and LTTE in February 2002.

The US, he said, wanted to remain committed to the Norwegian-brokered peace process and to help the “legitimate governing bodies of Sri Lanka to prepare for their roles in developing and protecting their citizens”. The LTTE’s current actions, he added, undermined its claims to legitimacy “and they keep the aspirations of the Tamil people bottled up”.

“Through our military training and assistance programmes, including efforts to help with counter terrorism initiatives and block illegal financial transactions, we are helping to shape the ability of the Sri Lankan government to protect its people and defend its interests,” he added. “We want peace. We support peace. And we will stand with the people of Sri Lanka who desire peace.

Along with India and UK, the US has outlawed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. It is also a member of the co-chairs group, that includes Norway, the European Union and Japan and which oversees the peace process.