Govt will not succumb to LTTE blackmail - Bernard Goonetilleke

HONG KONG: In an interview with Hong Kong based CNN International, Sri Lanka Ambassador to the USA, Bernard Goonetilleke clarifying the position of the Sri Lanka Government on the current situation in the northeast of Sri Lanka due to the cutting off water supplies to 60,000 civilians by the LTTE.

Ambassador Goonetilleke told the CNN that the Sri Lanka Government will not succumb to blackmail by the LTTE on the water issue in the eastern province.

He also pointed out although some try to show the heavy fighting on the ground a prelude to a full scale war, the Government had made it very clear that it was interested in pursuing a negotiated settlement to the conflict and was also keen in safeguarding the Ceasefire Agreement, signed with the LTTE a couple of years ago.

The full transcript of the interview is as follows:

CNN Reporter: Fighting seems to be intensifying in north eastern Sri Lanka. Government troops are battling Tamil Tiger rebels. Bernard Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States joins us live from Washington DC.

The news of the moment is that there is heavy fighting on the ground in the town of Muttur in Sri Lanka between the Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. Do you think this could be a prelude to a full-scale war?

Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke: Well, some people think so. But the Government has made it very clear that it is interested in pursuing a negotiated settlement to the conflict and is interested in safeguarding the Ceasefire Agreement, which was signed with the LTTE a couple of years ago.

CNN Reporter: At this stage, there is no likelihood, at least, talking to the many peace observers in your country, that negotiations are going to happen any time soon. Just coming back, what do you think is the likelihood? Will the situation continue to deteriorate to a point of full-scale war?

Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke: Well, you have to understand how this current round of fighting started. The LTTE blocked the passage of water to a particular community numbering about 60,000 persons and it was the responsibility of the Government to get water to this community, which depends on the water from a particular canal in the eastern province.

CNN Reporter: The Tigers say that this water was actually blocked by local people who were in dispute with the Government about improving water supplies.

Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke: Precisely. That is what they said first and thereafter they pointed out that it was they who blockaded the water because of the EU ban of the LTTE as a terrorist group.

First they said it was by the civilians and then the LTTE commander in that particular area later accepted the fact that it was the LTTE, which was responsible for the blockade.

CNN Reporter: So the LTTE is responsible, as you say, for this latest round of fighting, which has been going on some four days now. The Tigers then turn to the fact that the Government has been dropping bombs from planes on their positions. The civilians are being hit and civilians are being displaced.

This obviously is a very long-standing dispute, but just coming back to my original point, I mean, is there any chance of negotiations? Is there any possibility of negotiating any part of the ceasefire settlement?

Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke: Well, it is up to the LTTE to decide exactly what they should do. If you remember, a couple of weeks ago, the LTTE team and the Government team went all the way to Oslo to negotiate the safeguarding of the Ceasefire Agreement, and having reached Oslo, they decided against sitting together with the Government delegation.

So, we have seen a series of provocative acts starting from December last year, including suicide bomb attacks against civilians, abduction of soldiers and policemen and abduction of children and civilians, and no Government in this situation can succumb to blackmail of this nature, and so far as the Government is concerned, they have one particular objective at this point of time, that is to re-supply water to this community. Beyond that, they have no intention of furthering the armed conflict at this stage.

CNN Reporter: Thank you, Ambassador.