Japan’s peace envoy warned yesterday Sri Lanka’s strained peace process was at its lowest ebb since he took the job in 2002, and called on Tamil Tiger rebels to resume talks amid fresh violence in the restive north. Yasushi Akashi, who sees a risk of a return to a two-decade civil war that killed over 64,000 people before a 2002 truce, said the onus was on the government and rebels — and not the international community — to avoid all-out war. “Everyone should try their best to de-escalate an extremely tense and dangerous climate,” Akashi told a news conference hours after two sailors were wounded when a claymore fragmentation mine exploded as they cleared roadside scrub in the far north. “(The situation) is at its worst since I began my role as Japanese government envoy (in 2002),” he added, wrapping up his peace bid before heading to neighboring India to brief government leaders there.He said Sri Lanka’s main foreign donors - who pledged $4.5 billion in aid to foster peace - would meet in Tokyo later this month to assess where they stand. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who want a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east, have withdrawn from peace talks indefinitely, saying on Tuesday that Sri Lanka was moving toward the “fringes” of war.