Tuesday, June 17, 2003
US says it will force LTTE to give up weapons
Press Trust of India Washington, June 17
The United States has said it would continue to "hunt down" the LTTE and force it to give up the use of violence as a political weapon.
"We have designated the LTTE as a foreign terrorist organisation.... In fact we will hunt them down and try to stop their finances. We would like them to work into a situation in which they are no longer a foreign terrorist organisation. They could do that by giving up, once and for all, violence as a political weapon," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in an interview released yesterday.
He warned that those who did not take the opportunity offered by the Lankan dialogue process, will be judged "harshly" by history.
Pointing that India had a lot of influence in the region, Armitage said Ranil Wickremsinghe government was keeping New Delhi well informed about the progress of talks.
"I know that the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe keeps Indian officials well advised on the status of deliberations in Colombo. I think that is the proper way ahead," he said.
On the donors agreeing to provide support of USD 4.5 million to Sri Lanka at the Tokyo meet last week, Armitage said it "exceeded the wildest expectations of the organisers".
The US, which was thinking about stopping its assistance programme to Sri Lanka due to the ethnic bloodshed in the country, had re-evaluated its position after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe came into office offering a real chance for peace, Armitage said in an interview to the Tokyo Broadcasting System.
Resolution of Lankan conflict would be a "tremendous signal" for the world, Armitage said but warned that establishing trust and peace among the parties involved would be a difficult exercise.
"It is more than Sinhalese and Tamil. It is a Christian and Muslim and Buddhist and Hindu. We have a mix of religious and ethnic tensions. "That is why I say that it is so important, and it will be such an important achievement fo the world if Sri Lankans themselves are able to resolve their differences," Armitage said.
"The (donors) are all voting with their pocketbooks, with their wallets, saying that they believe that Sri Lankans will be successful. They are also saying that history will judge very harshly those who do not take advantage of this time for peace," Armiage said.
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