Colombo,
March 25. The United States has taken note of the
talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held in Hakone, Japan,
on March 18-21.
We are encouraged by the substantive and comprehensive
nature of the talks, which focused on such issues
as federalism and human rights. Most importantly,
we welcome the discussions on ways to improve ceasefire
modalities. We hope that these discussions will lead
to a cessation of efforts by the LTTE to smuggle arms
into Sri Lanka and prevent confrontations such as
the one that took place off the northeast coast on
March 10.
It is positive that the two sides have agreed to meet
again in April/May, in June, and in July. We salute
the Norwegian government for facilitating the talks
and the Japanese government for hosting them.
Regarding the March 20 incident, in which the LTTE
reportedly attacked and sank a Chinese fishing boat,
we note that information is still very sketchy. We
support a complete and immediate investigation into
the incident. Of course, we deplore the loss of life
and hope that the miss will soon be found.
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