US urged to help halt abductions in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, May 9 (Reuters) Aid workers in Sri Lanka's conflict-torn north appealed to a visiting US State Department official today to help stop a rash of abductions and rights abuses blamed on both sides of the island's civil war.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher flew to the army-held Jaffna peninsula, which is cut off from the rest of the island by rebel lines, to meet civic leaders and aid officials.

Blerin Tufa, a Kosovan programme manager for the Halo Trust demining group, had lunch with Boucher along with colleagues from other aid groups.

''The main specific issue that was raised with him were abductions and freedom of movement, and he said the US is addressing those issues and it will push ... both sides,'' Tufa told Reuters by telephone from Jaffna.

Boucher is expected to deliver a blunt message to the Sri Lankan government when he wraps up his three-day visit tomooorw -- namely, to address any rights abuses by the security forces and to rein in paramilitaries who analysts say are helping them fight the Tigers.

Britain last week suspended around $3 million dollars in debt relief aid, citing concerns about human rights abuses and mushrooming defence spending.

Nordic truce monitors and a UN envoy have accused elements of the military of involvement in extrajudicial killings and abductions of children as fighters for a breakaway rebel faction. The Tigers have long been accused of serial abductions.

Boucher's visit came after near-daily land and sea clashes between the military and Tigers, but military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the island was quiet today.

INVESTORS NERVOUS Worried investors are staying on the sidelines to see which way the conflict is heading, and the Colombo Stock Exchange ended a shade lower in thin trade today after a run of losses.

''The peace process is the main thing people are looking at,'' said Dyan Morris, a trader with brokerage C.T. Smith.

Boucher's trip also coincided with a separate visit by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, who said today he wanted to help foster peace on the majority-Buddhist Indian Ocean island.

Williams said he wanted to learn about suffering caused by a war that has killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983.

''I want to be here to learn something about the situation, to see how the Church is responding to it and to give encouragment to those working for peace here,'' Williams told Reuters Television in the capital, Colombo.

An estimated 70 per cent of Sri Lankans are Buddhist, and Christians trail Hindus and Muslims at around 6 per cent.

The Tigers have vowed to intensify their fight for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka, and the government has pledged to wipe out all rebel military assets -- which analysts say means the war is set to deepen.

REUTERS GL PM1835