Italy defends EU ban on LTTE

The Italian Government has defended the European Union ban on the LTTE, but has called the Government to re-open the negotiations as soon as possible.

The visiting Italian State Minister for Foreign Affairs Gianni Vernetti told journalists before ending his visit on Friday that the ban was justified since the LTTE was continuing its terrorist activities.

However Mr. Vernetti said the Italian government was expecting a quick resumption of peace talks and that the Italian Government would be monitoring the situation for further funding.

He said that in addition to the EU ban, Italy was working together with other countries like Canada and the USA to track down the LTTE fund raising.

Mr. Vernetti also said though there was no serious problems of LTTE fund raising from Italy where over 100,000 Sri Lankan are working, the Italian Government would continue its efforts to track down on funding terrorist organization including the LTTE.
He said his Government and the EU members would push for a dialogue and the revival of the peace process that would lead to stabilization.

“We hope negotiations and a new peace process will start soon. The conflict has been on for too many years and there have been too many deaths”, he said.

The minister met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, Human Rights and Natural Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and TNA leader R. Sampanthan. He also visited Italian government funded tsunami projects in the south.