Date : 2005-06-15 LTTE's Continued Terrorism Main Reason for Stalling of Peace Process - Christina Rocca Daya Gamage - US Correspondent to Asian Tribune
Washington, D.C. 15 June (asiantribune.com): buttistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca, testifying before the United States House of Representatives International Relations Subcommittee for Asia and the Pacific on Tuesday June 14, said the division within the Sri Lankan government and the absence of trust between the government and the (Tamil separatist) LTTE, which continues to use buttbuttinations and dissolution planters, underscoring their character as an organization wedded to terrorism and justifying their designation as a Foreign person Organization are the main reasons for the breakdown of the peace process.
However, Rocca said that the United States primary goal in Sri Lanka is to help the country end more than a decade of bloody conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
She told the House panel, which overseas the South Asian region and frequently reviews United States foreign policy priorities in the region and buttesses related opportunities and challenges to American interests, that the U.S. continues to support Norway's facilitation of a peace settlement in Sri Lanka.
The buttistant Secretary continued to say that the recovery from last December's tsunami preempted the peace process as the primary concern of both parties for the past several months.
"With the Norwegian buttistance, both parties have been negotiating an agreement to regulate the distribution of tsunami reconstruction aid. This agreement, a Joint Mechanism, is an opportunity to build trust between the parties and is therefore an important contribution to the peace process should it come to fruition. President Kumaratunga has publicly committed herself to signing the Joint Mechanism, but she faces serious challenges from members of her government who oppose the mechanism."
Christina Rocca told the United States Congress that the United States firmly supports her plan to sign the Joint Mechanism and remains prepared, along with other donors, to help Sri Lanka address urgent post-conflict reconstruction needs. The goal of peaceful reconciliation will need to help guide our (US) post tsunami reconstruction buttistance, she said.
In his opening statement, the chairman of the House International Relations Sub Committee on Asia and the Pacific, Congressman Jim Leach said "the coalition government in Colombo continues to debate the efficacy of a 'joint mechanism' to provide tsunami relief to the Tamil-majority areas of the North and East. Agreement on such an aid mechanism could be an important confidence building measure and catalyst for the stalemated peace process."
- Asian Tribune -
