Norwegian peace brokers believe scheduled peace talks in Geneva between the govt and the LTTE will take place later this month.
OSLO: Despite the recent blood letting in Sri Lanka, Norwegian peace brokers are confident that scheduled peace talks in Geneva between the government and the Tamil Tigers will take place later this month.
Norway’s development minister Eric Solheim, the man responsible for bringing the Tigers and Colombo to agree to the 2002 ceasefire, believes both sides are willing to sit down and talk peace. Indications that he has got so far is that the talks on October 29 and 30 are on. The two sides have already named the negotiators, but he was unwilling to disclose them.
Solheim’s expectations from the negotiations are minimal. “We just hope that the two sides not just meet in Geneva but also agree to meet again,” Solheim said on Thursday. Realising that the situation in the island state is spiralling towards another full-scale civil war, Solheim says that the first task of the international community is to make sure that the fighting comes to a stop. “The need of the hour is to ensure that fighting does not escalate further.” He says India and the international community are working together on this. Norway wants the international community to be more engaged with both sides in the conflict.
Though Solheim for obvious reasons does not want to criticise the EU ban on the LTTE, he does believe that the move was unwise. “We should not isolate Prabhakaran and his men completely. It is important for them to know the mood of the international community,” he said. Many in Sri Lanka are unhappy about Norway’s role in the peace process as they believe that Oslo tends to tilt towards the LTTE. These sections would like India to be more directly involved in the negotiations.
“India’s involvement comes with a price. India’s cautiousness is through a deep understanding of the situation in the island,” Solheim says. Norway’s distance from Sri Lanka helps it not to ruffle too many feathers in the volatile island state.
He welcomed the recent move in Colombo to build a Southern consensus with President Mahinda Rajapakse and UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, who are meeting to work out a joint strategy on how to move forward the peace process. The LTTE has in the past often complained that unless the Sinhalese political parties made up their minds on how much they were willing to concede, it was impossible to negotiate.
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