US backs strong action against LTTE by Champika Liyanaarachchi reporting from Washington

Rocca says travel ban will remain till Tigers change their ways: Peace process must go on whoever wins the polls

The United States yesterday welcomed the European Union travel ban on the LTTE and said it believed the ban would remain till the purpose of imposing it was achieved.
Christina Rocca, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, in an interview with the Daily Mirror said the EU ban reflected the international community's strongest message that acts of terrorism by the LTTE would not be tolerated.
"The travel ban is a concerted message from the Co-Chairs — the US, EU, Japan and Norway — which strongly felt that a wanton act of terrorism of the nature of the assassination of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar should not go unpunished," Ms. Rocca said.
The United States, as a country which has designated the LTTE as a terrorist organization, strongly felt that strong action should be taken against the LTTE to stop the growing number of killings, other forms of violence and child recruitment, she said.
However, Ms. Rocca underscored the need to continue the peace process and reach a negotiated settlement to the conflict and observed that the United States expected that whoever won the presidential elections in Sri Lanka would continue the peace efforts.
"For the US it does not matter who wins the elections but we want to see a violence-free poll and a commitment to continue the peace process," Ms. Rocca said in the interview at the US State Department.
The assistance that came Sri Lanka's way following the December 26 tsunami, Ms. Rocca said, was ample evidence of the kind of support the international community, especially the US, would make available for Sri Lanka and that the government of Sri Lanka could count on such assistance always.
Washington diplomatic sources told the Daily Mirror it was the United States along with Britain — the current European Union president, which played the most decisive role in getting the ban through and Ms. Rocca herself played a crucial role in the discussions in the run-up to the travel ban.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that Ms. Rocca would vacate her post as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia in a few months and would be replaced by former State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reportedly proposed Boucher's nomination to the White House," the Washington Post said.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/09/30/front/1.asp)