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| Saturday, 24 April 2004 |
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Norway ready to resume peace role Oslo, Friday, (Reuters) Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said he had agreed to a request by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga for Oslo to resume its facilitatory role in the peace process. "I said that Norway was willing to comply, on condition that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) also ask us to play a role," Bondevik said in a statement after President Kumaratunga telephoned him late on Thursday. "We must first get a request from the Tigers. If that comes, and we hope it will, we will consult both sides about how the process can be brought forward," Bondevik told Norwegian NRK public radio. Diplomats said the LTTE, who had criticised the government for breaking off the talks, seemed sure to accept the new bid for ending the conflict. A ceasefire has been holding despite the break. In Colombo, the Presidential Secretariat confirmed that Prime Minister Bondevik has expressed "the willingness of his Government to continue its role as the facilitator of the negotiations process between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE". The Norwegian Government will shortly contact the LTTE formally on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government, the Secretariat said. "President Kumaratunga has had formal discussions with the Ambassador of Norway in Sri Lanka, immediately after the conclusion of the recent General Elections, with a view to the resumption of negotiations with the LTTE. The first meeting was held on 20th April, 2004. She has also spoken recently to the Prime Minister of the Royal Norwegian Government regarding this matter," it added. It was unclear when the talks might resume. Direct talks with the LTTE, who control large part of the island's North and East, broke down in April last year after six rounds of talks in various cities abroad. Presidential Spokesman Harim Peiris said: "We have invited the facilitators (Norway) to recommence the process... But I don't want to be predicting the future." Norway's peace team pulled out of the peace process temporarily in November. Peiris said that past criticisms of Norway did not invalidate its overall role. "The criticism of Norway's actions have been where they've moved beyond their role as facilitator and been quite unacceptable and even in breach of international law," he said. "Where the political parties have been critical it has been on quite specific matters." The ceasefire agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE was signed on February 22, 2002. Talks between the two sides started later that year, in Thailand. The LTTE left the talks in April last year, saying the government had done little to address the grievances of the Tamil people. It presented proposals for an Interim Self-Governing Authority in October last year. An unprecedented split erupted in the LTTE in March as LTTE's Eastern Commander Karuna broke away from the main Wanni faction. Prabhakaran's cadres re-captured the territory held by Karuna earlier this month. The Scandinavian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has been functioning since February 2002 in the North-East. Several Norwegian delegations visited Sri Lanka after the suspension of peace talks to hold talks with government and LTTE leaders. Many Tamil politicians have also held talks with the LTTE during this period. The LTTE supported the Tamil National Alliance during the April 2 polls. Norway is home to the Nobel Peace Prize. It also has a role in helping peace talks between the Philippines government and Communist rebels. It also hosted secret 1993 talks between Israelis and Palestinians that led to the now failed Oslo peace accords. |
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