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| Sri Lanka |
| LTTE has trained other terrorist groups |
| 2004-09-09 |
| J Cofer Black, US State Department Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, says that the LTTE has trained other terrorist groups in the world and is in the "exalted" company of the Al-Qaeda. "I am disturbed at the LTTE's history as a terrorist organisation. It has been a purveyor of training, knowledge and equipment to a spectrum of terrorist groups, and we currently see many of these groups being mutually supporting," Black told a select media round table in Colombo on Wednesday. "The LTTE has been a disseminator of knowledge on how to conduct terrorist organisations, and has equipped other terrorist groups, which in, and of itself, is sufficient cause for alarm and concern. It is no small thing that the US has put the LTTE on its list of terrorist organisations. They (the LTTE) are in the exalted company of the Al-Qaeda organisation and the rest of the groups." Black, who is also an Ambassador-at-Large for the United States, went on to say that the "community of nations should attempt to constrain its (LTTE's) activities and do everything it can to bring it to the negotiating table." Asked how the US was helping the Sri Lankan Government meet the challenge of the LTTE, he said: "We do have programs to support the Government so that it could be in a position to negotiate effectively. We provide the type of support that puts it in a good position to negotiate." What the US counter-terror official is saying is that his country is helping the Sri Lankan Government talk to the LTTE from a position of military and political strength. US policy was that the LTTE must negotiate in "good faith", that is, by "renouncing terrorism in word and deed," Black said. The counter-terror official hinted that while the object of US-Lanka cooperation in regard to the LTTE was peace and not war, there might be a revision of the programme if the times were to change. "The object is peace. The object is not war. And we think we have a good programme in place with the Government for these times. Were the times to change, the United States would have to reconsider the type of support it gives," Ambassador Black he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |