Sri Lanka civil war could reverse tsunami recovery: Clinton

The visiting UN envoy for tsunami recovery, Bill Clinton, warned Sri Lanka that a return to civil war in the island could undo efforts to rebuild after last year's devastating tsunami.







The visiting UN envoy for tsunami recovery, Bill Clinton, warned Sri Lanka that a return to civil war in the island could undo efforts to rebuild after last year's devastating tsunami. "Any recovery progress achieved this year will be quickly reversed if Sri Lanka returns to civil conflict," the former US president said Tuesday.

The remarks were contained in a statement issued by Clinton's office in Colombo after talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.

The statement came a day after Rajapakse issued a fresh invitation to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to enter talks and revive a moribund peace process after the guerrillas issued a year-end deadline.

The LTTE said it wanted Rajapakse to come up with a political deal to end discrimination against minority Tamils and if not they would "next year" resume their "freedom struggle" and seek to establish a separate homeland.

Clinton's statement did not go into details of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict which claimed o