US asks Lankan parties to strengthen truce

Colombo and the Tigers have agreed to a joint mechanism to distribute billions of dollars in foreign aid among survivors of the December 26 tsunami that killed 31,000 people in Sri Lanka and left a million homeless.

"If implemented properly, this mechanism will help to ensure efficient and equitable reconstruction assistance to those whose lives were devastated by the South Asia tsunami in the north and east of Sri Lanka," the US said in a statement.

It said Washington hoped the experience the two sides will gain by working together would help build confidence and lead to progress in the broader peace process, which has been stalled since April 2003.

"It is even more important now that the two parties take all possible steps to see that the ceasefire is observed and strengthened," the statement said.

The US designated the Libera-tion Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a foreign terrorist group in October 1997 but has also urged the Sri Lankan government to enter into a negotiated settlement with the guerrillas.

More than 60,000 people were killed in the LTTE-led separatist conflict in three decades until fighting was halted with an Oslo-brokered truce that went into effect in February 2002.

President Chandrika Kumara-tunga entered the aid-sharing deal Friday as a prelude to resuming negotiations with the Tigers.

However, the deal has lead to a worsening split in her ruling coalition, which was reduced to a minority this month when a Marxist partner walked out in protest.

Sri Lanka's second largest minority, the Muslims, have also objected to the aid-sharing agreement saying that they have been ignored and marginalised although more than 50 percent of those affected by the tsunamis were Muslims.

Minority Muslims set fire to tyres and blocked key highways in eastern Sri Lanka Monday to protest at their exclusion from the government's controversial deal to share tsunami aid with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Traffic in Muslim-dominated towns in eastern coastal regions came to a standstill as crowds blocked roads and forced the closure of shops, a police official in the area said by telephone.

"They want their political leaders in government to resign," the official said.

The Muslim National Unity Alliance said Sunday it would quit the ruling coalition in two days unless the president drops the aid deal clinched with the Tigers last Friday to distribute billions of dollars in foreign aid.

The influential Muslim Council of Sri Lanka also joined growing opposition to the deal. It decided at a meeting Sunday to ask the international community to press the government to include it as equal partners with the rebels.

The Muslims say they were marginalised in the Norwegian-brokered deal, which been widely hailed as a possible prelude to restarting peace talks between the two sides.

They fear the tsunami deal between the government and the rebels would set a precedent for an eventual peace deal that would ignore their aspirations.

President Chandrika Kumaratu-nga has already lost her majority in parliament following the withdrawal of support earlier this month by her Marxist ally, the JVP, or People's Liberation Front.