The United States is concerned about deteriorating human rights in Sri Lanka, where a decades-long separatist insurgency has led to abductions, killings and intimidation of the media, an envoy said Thursday. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher met government, military and civil leaders in this island nation during his three-day visit that ended Thursday, according to AP. Boucher told reporters that the U.S. has closely followed Sri Lanka's affairs and «there are two aspects that concern us: one is the abductions and killing, two is the freedom of the press.» The government has put forward guidelines on how to deal with suspects believed linked to the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, but «those in government employment must implement them,» he said. «We have seen a lot of different reports, reports of intimidation reports on government power being used on newspapers and journalists, and of course we have seen killings,» Boucher said. «We'll always speak up in defense of the press.» Commissions of inquiry investigating the killings and abuses must soon «come up with answers,» Boucher said, adding that «they need to satisfy the hunger for truth.» Boucher said the U.S. recognizes that Sri Lanka continues to face the threat of terrorism by Tamil Tigers and will continue its assistance to eliminate the threat. But he urged the government and opposition parties to share power with ethnic minority Tamils on whose behalf the rebels claim to fight. A U.S. pledge to fund poverty-reduction and development programs in Sri Lanka through the Millennium Challenge Corporation has been stalled because of the deteriorating security and human rights situation, Boucher said. It was not clear which programs have been affected or how much the U.S. pledge was worth. Last week Britain suspended millions of dollars in aid to Sri Lanka, saying payments would not resume until certain conditions are met, including no unjustified military expenses and no instigation of hostility. Earlier Thursday President Mahinda Rajapakse met Boucher and told the envoy that Sri Lanka needs to be «vigilant» about its national security in dealing with its ethnic conflict, hinting that the South Asian nation is leaning away from compromising with rebels. The remarks by the president appear to reinforce earlier comments that Sri Lanka would take military action against rebels when it deems its national security is at stake. Earlier in the week, government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella acknowledged that a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire «has been violated over and over again» by both sides and warned «wherever national security is threatened, we will take appropriate action.» Boucher traveled to the Jaffna peninsula, a predominantly ethnic Tamil area in northern Sri Lanka on Wednesday where he said the U.S. would try to help alleviate the suffering of civilians living on the war-ravaged peninsula. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington the U.S. wants the Tigers and the government back at the negotiating table. «Richard is there to try to further our efforts in this regard,» he said. The Tamil Tiger rebels began fighting in 1983 to establish an independent homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east for the country's mostly Hindu Tamils, who have faced decades of discrimination by the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese majority. The Jaffna peninsula is the heart of that violent struggle. The war killed at least 65,000 people before a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in 2002. But the peace process has steadily unraveled since December 2005, and air raids, bus bombings, suicide attacks and jungle clashes have claimed an estimated 4,000 lives since then. -- SPA
