Donors push govt, Tigers to work together

Donors who have promised up to 2.5 billion dollars for tsunami-related reconstruction were keen that the Colombo government and Tamil Tiger rebels work together, a senior diplomat at the talks said.

"We feel a joint mechanism (between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels) will make it quicker to deliver aid and also make it easier for donors to give more," the Dutch ambassador to Sri Lanka, Susan Blankheart, said.

She said European Union nations backed the swift implementation of a proposed "joint mechanism" that President Chandrika Kumaratunga promised Monday to establish despite threats to her life.

Praful Patel, the World Bank's vice president for South Asia, said donors were keen that Sri Lanka's faltering peace process be revived and noted despite a talks deadlock, both sides had abided by a truce since February 2002.

"For many development partners, the peace process is at the core of their interest in Sri Lanka," Patel said, adding international lenders were also backing the initiative as it was the only way to ensure economic development.

The aid review was not meant as a pledging conference.

But Sri Lanka's Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said donors and non-governmental agencies Monday raised their aid offers at the meeting in the hill resort of Kandy.

Diplomatic sources, however, said there were no new pledges but a "rounding off" of numbers.