US urges immediate end to violence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 09:41 GMT]
Deputy Spokesman of U.S. Department of State Adam Ereli on Tuesday called on both sides in the Sri Lankan conflict to embrace peace and work together and said that the United States, as one of the Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka Donors Group, reiterates the Co-Chairs' message to the LTTE urging an immediate end to violence and encouraging the LTTE to engage positively with the Government of Sri Lanka in peace talks. The US statement comes as the Sri Lankan President Rajapakse left Tuesday to India in his attempt to woo India's support in favour of the Sri Lankan state.

Full text of the statement released in Washington, D.C., on December 27, 2005:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
Statement by Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman


The following statement was released in Washington, D.C., on December 27, 2005:

ENCOURAGING PEACE IN SRI LANKA

On December 24, representatives of the Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka Donors Group, from Japan, the European Community, Norway and the United Kingdom met with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leaders in Kilinocchi, Sri Lanka to urge an immediate end to violence and to encourage them to engage positively with the government in peace talks. The United States, also one of the Co-Chairs, reiterates this message in the strongest possible terms. We are deeply concerned about the continued erosion of Sri Lanka’s four-year old ceasefire as marked by the recent series of violent incidents.

The United States recognizes that a lasting peace in Sri Lanka can only be achieved by Sri Lankans. We call on both sides to embrace peace and work together to build a future for Sri Lanka that is prosperous and secure.