US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns on the Sri Lankan
Government, the Peace Process and LTTE...
Excerpts from the Press conference at the conclusion of the Donor
Co-Chairs meeting in Washington
QUESTION: Sridhar from Press Trust of India. My question is to
Mr. Burns. Sir, there has been a lot of writing in the media that there
is somehow two different tracks of U.S. policy towards this conflict in
Sri Lanka. The hard line espoused by Mr. Burns supposedly is for
allowing military offensives for the state of Sri Lanka to preserve the
territorial integrity. And supposedly there is a softer line that is
pushing for the homeland, you know, of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Can you
please clarify for the record what it is that the U.S. is pushing there
now in Sri Lanka?
UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Well, I'm very happy to set the record
straight if you're confused or if any of your colleagues are confused.
The United States doesn't normally have two policies towards one
country; we normally follow one.
And in the case of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan people and government
are a good friend to the United States. We support the government. We
have a good relationship with the government. We believe the government
has a right to try to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty
of the country. The government has a right to protect the stability and
security in the country. We meet often with the government at the
highest levels and consider the government to be a friend to our
country.
We also believe that the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE, is a terrorist group
responsible for massive bloodshed in the country and we hold the Tamil
Tigers responsible for much of what has gone wrong in the country.
We are not neutral in this respect. I'm talking about the United
States Government now. And therefore we hope very much that the people
of Sri Lanka will be able to live in peace in the future.
Now, there are times when the government takes actions that we have
to speak out because of our opposition to those actions. There have
been, as you know, a number of incidents over the last few months that
have given us a great deal of concern about the use of military power.
And we have called on the government and in our direct conversations
with the government to establish a committee of inquiry - the government
has done this - and international observers to help find out the truth
of what happened and then to ask the government to hold those people
responsible. And we have been apprised by the government just in recent
days that they intend to do that.
So that would be a general sense of the United States policy towards
Sri Lanka. But we share in this respect with our Co-Chairs partners an
abiding hope for peace and for an end to the conflict, and we hope to
use the combined influence of the European Union and Japan, Norway and
the United States, working with countries like India, to see if we can
bring our influence to bear to make some suggestions that might be
helpful to the government and helpful in bringing about a ceasefire and
peace negotiations. That is our immediate objective and that is the
policy of my government.
QUESTION: Can I just have a quick follow-up?
UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Please.
QUESTION: Just a follow-up on how - what military assistance
does the United States provide to the Government of Sri Lanka and
whether any of the arms have been used by the government troops in
alleged atrocities?
UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Well, as I said before, the United
States does have an assistance program to Sri Lanka. It is an assistance
program first and foremost based on our hope for development of the
country, for further trade, investment, for attention to some of the
economic and health problems of the country. We are working with Sri
Lanka as a partner in counterterrorism as well as counterproliferation.
All that is happening.
We also do have - we have engaged in military assistance to Sri
Lanka. I can't give you an exact accounting for it, but we'd be happy to
take your question and get back to you.
QUESTION: I wasn't quite sure is the government doing enough,
everything that it can from your point of view, to show that it's ready
for peace?
MR. SOLHEIM: Well, I think in my role as facilitator, it's
very difficult also to be the judge, so I would prefer someone else to
answer that question.
UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: I'd just say on behalf of the United
States that we have faith in the government and faith in the President
of Sri Lanka. They do want to make peace.
And we are urging the government to choose peace. Now, I think we've
all been disturbed, certainly in my government we have been, by the
breakdown in the ceasefire.
There's been a tremendous level of fighting and bloodshed over the
last few months.
So we ask the government to redouble its efforts. We ask the
government to seek a ceasefire from the point of view of the United
States and I'm just speaking here on behalf of my own government, not
certainly on behalf of the Co-Chairs, we see the LTTE as greatly
responsible for the present conflict and we are a fierce critic of their
terrorist tactics and the fact that so many people have been victimised
by those terrorist tactics. |