US pledges continued assistance to combat terrorism

by Deepal Warnakulasuriya

Continued assistance to combat LTTE terrorism was confirmed by the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher concluding his three-day visit in Sri Lanka last week.

Boucher who arrived in the country on May 8 also visited the Jaffna peninsula and met civil society leaders including the Government Agent, Jaffna, K. Ganesh.

Boucher told the media in Colombo on Thursday evening that he had clearly understood the LTTE's terrorism including the recruitment of child soldiers, extorting money, killing innocent people and many others. He also said that he was satisfied with the supplies to Jaffna compared to his previous visit to the Northern part of the country in November last year.

However, at the same time, he said that the government has also to be more vigilant about abductions and killings taking place in the country.

He commended the efforts of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) and stressed the need for cooperation for a political consensus by all political parties. "We are opposed to terrorism and we stand with the people of Sri Lanka against terrorism", he said.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Secretariat said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa briefed Ambassador Boucher on the prevailing securitly situation in the country. Speaking on Human Rights violations and the abductions the President had told him that the Government is taking every effort to meet such reports and is assisting the Human Rights Ministry, the Human Rights Commissioner and other relevant institutes to take remedial measures.

He also met Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and some civil society leaders from the Jaffna peninsula.

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