06-01-2004, 01:45 PM
International Donors to Renew Sri Lanka Pledges, Call for Peace
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's main international donors, part of group that pledged $4.5 billion in aid, will tell Sri Lanka at a meeting today to resume peace talks to end a 20-year civil war in order to receive their support.
The U.S., European Union, Japan and Norway, the four co- chairs of last year's international donors conference in Tokyo, meet in Brussels to discuss the peace talks, the political situation on the island after elections April 2 and the role of the international community in rebuilding Sri Lanka, European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said.
``The way to unlock the bulk of the money is for Sri Lanka to make progress in peace talks,'' Udwin said in a phone interview from Brussels. ``The cease-fire has held and we are pleased about that but it's certainly the case that after a year of deadlock Sri Lanka may lose momentum. Sri Lanka needs to show that it's determined to move the peace process forward.''
The donors, who have released aid for humanitarian development and reconstruction while holding back money to rebuild roads and other infrastructure, are meeting two months after a new government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance took office. Norway's peace envoy last week completed a week of discussions without securing a date for the resumption of peace negotiations.
Cease-Fire Holds
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, known as the Tamil Tigers, began a 20-year campaign for a separate homeland in the early 1980s, in a war that left at least 60,000 people dead and devastated the north and east of the country. Norway mediated a cease-fire in February 2002, which remained in force even after formal talks to end the conflict broke down in April 2003.
Differences over the peace process exacerbated a rift between Kumaratunga and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and led to April's snap elections. Kumaratunga said Wickremesinghe was making too many concessions to the rebels in peace talks.
Peace is a ``foreseeable reality,'' new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse told European and Asian investors on Monday, even as efforts to get both sides back to the negotiating table remain bogged down over issues of the agenda, autonomy and representation.
Norway's peace envoy Erik Solheim, who visited the island twice in May, left Sri Lanka without setting a date for talks and with no firm plans to return to the island to mediate between the parties involved.
The Tamil Tigers say the majority Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhist, discriminate against the Tamils, who make up fewer than a fifth of the island's population of 19.7 million people.
The group last year proposed the creation of an Interim Self- Governing Authority to run the north and east as part of its plans for peace. It wants the authority set up before returning to the negotiating table, a move opposed by the government.
The Liberation Tigers are classified as terrorists by the U.S., Britain and India.
<b>bloomberg.net.</b>
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's main international donors, part of group that pledged $4.5 billion in aid, will tell Sri Lanka at a meeting today to resume peace talks to end a 20-year civil war in order to receive their support.
The U.S., European Union, Japan and Norway, the four co- chairs of last year's international donors conference in Tokyo, meet in Brussels to discuss the peace talks, the political situation on the island after elections April 2 and the role of the international community in rebuilding Sri Lanka, European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said.
``The way to unlock the bulk of the money is for Sri Lanka to make progress in peace talks,'' Udwin said in a phone interview from Brussels. ``The cease-fire has held and we are pleased about that but it's certainly the case that after a year of deadlock Sri Lanka may lose momentum. Sri Lanka needs to show that it's determined to move the peace process forward.''
The donors, who have released aid for humanitarian development and reconstruction while holding back money to rebuild roads and other infrastructure, are meeting two months after a new government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance took office. Norway's peace envoy last week completed a week of discussions without securing a date for the resumption of peace negotiations.
Cease-Fire Holds
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, known as the Tamil Tigers, began a 20-year campaign for a separate homeland in the early 1980s, in a war that left at least 60,000 people dead and devastated the north and east of the country. Norway mediated a cease-fire in February 2002, which remained in force even after formal talks to end the conflict broke down in April 2003.
Differences over the peace process exacerbated a rift between Kumaratunga and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and led to April's snap elections. Kumaratunga said Wickremesinghe was making too many concessions to the rebels in peace talks.
Peace is a ``foreseeable reality,'' new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse told European and Asian investors on Monday, even as efforts to get both sides back to the negotiating table remain bogged down over issues of the agenda, autonomy and representation.
Norway's peace envoy Erik Solheim, who visited the island twice in May, left Sri Lanka without setting a date for talks and with no firm plans to return to the island to mediate between the parties involved.
The Tamil Tigers say the majority Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhist, discriminate against the Tamils, who make up fewer than a fifth of the island's population of 19.7 million people.
The group last year proposed the creation of an Interim Self- Governing Authority to run the north and east as part of its plans for peace. It wants the authority set up before returning to the negotiating table, a move opposed by the government.
The Liberation Tigers are classified as terrorists by the U.S., Britain and India.
<b>bloomberg.net.</b>
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