The freezing of financial and tangible assets belonging to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation(TRO) in the USA is aimed at isolating terrorist financing and also informing the LTTE that it is time for serious negotiations, Amercian Ambassador Robert O Blake said yesterday.

Addressing a news conference in Colombo, he said that the decision to freeze TRO assets was taken after investigations revealed a chain of command and cooperation between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and TRO.

Blake said that his government’s action was directed at the LTTE and not the Tamil people.

"It should also not be read as support for the Sri Lankan government’s on going military operations. We believe that a solution to the ethnic conflict and rights of the Tamil people can be found only through peaceful negotiations."

The US government has concluded that the TRO has raised funds on behalf of the LTTE through a network of individual representatives,he said.

Courtesy - The Island