Britain to withhold some aid payments to Sri Lanka
Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels clashed AGAIN in northern Sri Lanka today, as Britain suspended some aid payments to the country amid the intensified fighting.
The insurgents attacked a bunker along the defensive lines outside Vavuniya, the last government-held town before rebel territory in northern Sri Lanka, killing a police officer, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse.
The fighting took place a day after the military said at least 13 insurgents had been killed in two days of fierce battles along the front lines in the north - news that heightened concerns that the renewed ethnic war was entering an even bloodier phase.
Britain, which had agreed to give £2.95m (€2.17m) to help Sri Lanka pay off some debts to the World Bank, has suspended the programme after making only half the payments, a spokesman for the British High Commission in Colombo said.
The payments will resume if a series of conditions are met, including no unjustified increases in military spending and no instigations of hostility, the official said.
The aid suspension came as a senior British diplomat planned a trip to war-torn northern Sri Lanka to meet rebel leaders and urge them to return to peace talks.
British Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Lesley Craig had been due to travel today to Kilinochchi, the main rebel-held city, but the trip was postponed.
While no reason was given for the delay, he said Mr Craig would travel soon to meet with leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the rebels are formally known.
The Sri Lankan government recently barred the Norwegian ambassador from making a similar trip to Kilinochchi.
Norway helped broker a 2002 cease-fire between the government and rebels, and has continued to serve as a mediator as sporadic fighting has intensified in the past 18 months.
The cease-fire officially remains in place although the fighting has worsened. Both sides insist they respect the truce and are only responding to the other’s aggression.
