Norway broke a near three-year deadlock in Sri Lanka's peace
talks by clinching a deal with the warring parties to meet
face-to-face in Geneva by mid-February.
In Colombo, the beleaguered Sri Lankan government yesterday
welcomed the development as a "major relief" and hoped that the
latest wave of violence that has claimed at least 152 lives since
December would come to an end.
The talks would focus on strengthening their ceasefire that was
on the brink of collapse after the surge in violence, envoy Erik
Solheim told reporters in this rebel-held political capital.
Solheim had a rare meeting with Tiger supremo Velupillai
Prabhakaran who in November put Colombo on notice to make a
reasonable autonomy deal this year or face re-igniting a separatist
war.
The proposed meeting in mid February would be the first time
that the two sides have held talks since they left the negotiating
table in April 2003. Previous diplomatic efforts had failed to end
the deadlock.
"This is a major relief to the government and to the citizens of
Sri Lanka," government spokesperson Nimal Siripala de Silva said in
Colombo after Solheim briefed President Mahinda Rajapakse on his
latest success after meeting the Tigers.
"We are confident that the killings will now stop," de Silva
said, adding that the breakthrough had helped subside fears that
the country could slip back to its decades old separatist war which
had claimed more than 60,000 lives.
The Norwegian envoy, who is also Oslo's international
development minister, traveled here after separate talks with
Rajapakse Tuesday.
The envoy said Rajapakse was keen on a peace deal.
"He is eager to see peace in Sri Lanka," Solheim said of his
talks with the president.
He said the first ice-breaking meeting between Rajapakse's
government, which came to power in November, and the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would be in Geneva.
"There may be a need for more meetings," Solheim said. "They
would be held in Switzerland or elsewhere in Europe."
He said the agenda for next month's meeting would be to
"strengthen the ceasefire agreement." There is a need to "create a
climate that is conducive for peace," he said.
Solheim also stressed the need to reduce attacks on the
Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which suffered a
bomb blast earlier this month. The SLMM is monitoring the truce
that went into force in February 2002.
"It was very, very difficult, if not impossible, to keep the
ceasefire" unless attacks are stopped, Solheim said. "Every
possible measure must be taken to guarantee the security of the
SLMM."
Asked if both sides had agreed to stop the latest wave of
violence, Solheim replied: "The agreement between the two parties
will have to be made at the meeting."
LTTE's chief negotiator Anton Balasingham said they wanted talks
with the new government as soon as possible but also sought an end
to violence.
London-based Balasingham, who flew in here on Monday to join the
Solheim-Prabhakaran talks, said the LTTE would discuss with Colombo
only about implementing the truce.
He ruled out amending or renegotiating the ceasefire as demanded
by nationalist coalition partners in Rajapakse's government.
Rajapakse yesterday won support from four opposition legislators
who defected to his side reducing his dependency on hard-line
nationalist legislators.
Balasingham said they pledged that the Tigers would not resort
to violence.
"It is extremely important for the government to take urgent
measures to instruct its armed forces to cease acts of violence
against civilians and the LTTE," Balasingham told reporters after
Solheim had left.
He also called on the government to halt "paramilitary" violence
against Tamil people and the LTTE.
The Tigers have accused the government of supporting a breakaway
faction to carry out attacks against the mainstream LTTE.
Prior to meeting Prabhakaran, Solheim said he was unsure if
bombings late Tuesday in Colombo, 330 kilometers (205 miles) south
of here, were aimed at derailing his peace effort.
"I have no way of knowing whether they are politically motivated
or not," he said.
On the eve of his visit, five simultaneous explosions rocked
Colombo, prompting suspicion from police sources that Tigers were
responsible. There were no casualties.
(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, January 26, 2006)
