Solheim to give priority to CFA stabilisation
 

BY ANANTH Palakidnar

THE Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim will give priority to stabilising the deteriorating Ceasefire Agreement when he visits Sri Lanka on January 23, Norwegian Embassy sources said.

The visit of the Norwegian envoy is significant in many ways as he will be making his first visit of the year since he became a Minister in the new Norwegian Government.

Solheim will also have the first official meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse since he extended the invitation to Norway to continue with its facilitation process soon after he was elected President in November last year.

Solheim will meet President Rajapakse in Colombo and later have discussions with the Peace Secretariat officials and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials on the current state of the CFA.

Thereafter, Solheim will visit Killinochchi and meet LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan on stabilising the CFA. Solheim is expected to take concrete decisions on the implementation of the CFA, sources said.

Meanwhile, according to SLMM sources no attack has occurred in the last few days and Jaffna has returned to normal with schools re-opened for the first term.

Despite the tight security civil activities in the North are going on smoothly, the sources said.