Colombo: A top US envoy on May 14 warned Sri Lanka's divided cohabitation government not to let the current political crisis jeopardise the island's fragile peace bid with Tamil Tigers.

Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca said she had discussed the cohabitation problems during her talks with President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

"I have shared the international community's fervent hope that these quarrels are set aside so that a clear, consistent and united Sri Lankan voice is heard," Rocca told reporters.

Rocca, making her second visit to the island in 14 months, said there was a danger of cohabitation politics "eclipsing" the peace process aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed in the island.

"We hope it will not impede the peace process and they will be able to move forward together," she said at the end of her four-day visit to Sri Lanka.

Rocca, who arrived in Colombo on May 11, declined to give details of her talks with Sri Lankan leaders, but President Kumaratunga's office said she gave the US official details of some 3,000 cases of violence against her party supporters following the December 2001 elections that brought Wickremesinghe to power in Parliament.

Rocca said she had not yet gone through Kumaratunga's complaint but was aware of abductions, killings and extortion carried out by Tamil Tigers and urged the rebels to respect Human Rights and Democracy.

PTI