Donors condemn Sri Lanka and rebels on violence

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's main financial donors condemned violence committed by both the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and urged the rivals to restart peace talks and allow humanitarian aid.

The main donors to the Indian ocean island state -- the United States, Japan, Norway and the European Union -- ''condemn the continued and systematic cease-fire violations by the government of Sri Lanka and LTTE,'' they said in a statement.

A litany of military clashes and attacks have killed more than 3,000 civilians, troops and Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam fighters so far this year in a new chapter of the Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war.

After a one-day meeting in Washington, the donors said they ''particularly condemn the LTTE for initiating hostilities from heavily populated areas and the government of Sri Lanka for firing into such vulnerable areas and killing and wounding innocent civilians.'' Following failed peace talks in Geneva last month, the group said the two sides must commit to sustained peace talks without preconditions.

Both sides should also allow the ''immediate, permanent and unconditional opening of the sea and road routes for humanitarian convoys of essential supplies,'' the donors said.

Many ordinary Sri Lankans fear the violence will escalate now that the island's 2002 truce has disintegrated in all but name.

Fighting since the conflict began in 1983 has killed more than 67,000 people.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, elected a year ago, has flatly rejected rebel demands for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east, where they already run a de facto state.

REUTERS DKS PM0446