Govt keen to move onto substantive issues

Manjula Fernando

COLOMBO: The Government has conveyed to the LTTE through the visiting Special Norwegian envoy that they must move from CFA talks to more concrete issues such as a final solution to the problem without delay.

Norwegian special envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple trees yesterday. He was accompanied by Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim and Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar.

New Director General of the Government Peace Secretariat (SCOPP) Dr. Palitha Kohona, who assumed duties yesterday, told the Daily News: "We cannot travel all the way to Geneva to draw up a checklist of what has been done and what has not been done under the CFA."

He said the Government is of the view that issues such as democracy, political pluralism, humanitarian and those concerning children have to be dealt with at the second round of talks in Geneva in addition to the matters relating to the implementation of the CFA.

Expressing his views on the LTTE's demand that they wanted all the pledges by the Government given at the first Geneva talks to be fulfilled, before agreeing to have a second round, Kohona stressed it was not desirable to hold peace at hostage.

"I'm sure the Government has many complaints than the LTTE. In the circumstances it will be counter productive to make demands as such."

The Director General said there was no firm agenda for the second round at the moment but added the said issues are considered by the Government as important aspects they would like to deal with at the second round.

He expressed that they could not yet say how many rounds of talks in Geneva would take them to move on to discussing a final solution to the ethnic conflict. The Peace Secretariat Chief stressed however that they must move on to the substantive issues, mainly the devotion of power in the context of a unitary state.

He said the Government conveyed this to the LTTE through Bauer but he had not been very clear with the LTTE's response to this matter when he met the President yesterday.

Dr. Kohona commenting on the widely publicised media report of the LTTE's request for a sea plane said there has not been an official request as such by the LTTE to the Government. He said if there was a such request it will be dealt with by the Defence Ministry.