News - Wednesday 23, September 1998
News - Wednesday 23, September 1998
The United States will support Sri Lanka in defeating terrorism, President Bill Clinton assured President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday.
"President Clinton clearly stated that America would support us in defeating terrorism and will also encourage us in efforts to solve the ethnic problem through a political settlement," President Kumaratunga told a news conference at the United Nations in New York.
A release from the Sri Lanka's Permanent Mission to the UN said last night the Sri Lankan and US Presidents discussed the problem of terrorism and measures to counter it.
The release said: In response to a question raised by a journalist on President Clinton's strong call for international action on terrorism and whether their discussions covered the issue of terrorism, she replied, I had occasion to have a long chat with him because we sat at the table at the Secretary General's lunch along with President Nelson Mandela and several other leaders. We were talking about the similarities of our two views in our speeches. I also thanked him for the action taken by the US to declare the LTTE a terrorist organisation. Well, he clearly stated that America would support us in defeating terrorism and also encouraged us in our efforts to solving the ethnic problem through a political solution."
Meanwhile, a New York datelined AFP report said: Sri Lankan leaders said Tuesday their country, after 26 years of war with Tamil Tiger rebels, could teach much to others in any world cooperation against terrorism.
"We have a tremendous amount of sad experience about how the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) operates," said Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.
"We think a lot of countries would be interested in the ramifications of an international terrorist organization," he told a press conference at the United Nations.
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said Sri Lanka backed the call for an international conference on terrorism, the major theme of the opening session of the UN General Assembly.
"We cooperate (against terrorism) with any country. The LTTE has many varied ways of collecting money," she said.
In an address to the assembly on Monday, Kumaratunga called for action against organizations raising funds for terrorism.
Kadirgamar pointed to "the use of front organizations, innocent looking organizations purportedly devoted to charity and religious matters but really fronts for money collecting and arms buying."