Washington: Condemning the LTTE for ending a 2002 ceasefire agreement in Sri Lanka, the United States has said it was disturbed at the developments in the island nation.

"The 2002 cease-fire agreement is the foundation on which both the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers can find mutual understanding and build sustainable peace.

"We condemn the Tamil Tigers for fueling violence and hostility. Violence and terrorism do nothing to advance the resolution of the conflict" the State department Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters yesterday.

"And we're pressing both sides, the government as well as the Tigers, to honor the cease-fire agreement and return to a dialogue that will move the nation toward peace. The Tigers can choose to return to the peace process and should do so for the benefit of the Sri Lankan people" he added.

Asked if there was any fresh diplomatic track the State Department is working on, McCormack maintained that the United States was working within the Contact Group process or the 'monitoring group'.

"We're working within the contact group process, the monitoring group. And we have recently hosted a meeting of the co-chairs of the Tokyo donor conference  Norway, Japan and the European Union  to help find a durable solution. So that's really the mechanism through which we work to try to move the process forward," he said.