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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 22, 2002

Sri Lanka's Peace Process Moving Fast

Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen has seen Sri Lanka's peace process moving ahead at an incredibly fast pace, maybe even too fast, the state-owned Daily News reported Monday.


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Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen has seen Sri Lanka's peace process moving ahead at an incredibly fast pace, maybe even too fast, the state-owned Daily News reported Monday.

In an interview with the newspaper at the end of his week-long visit to the war-torn country on Saturday, he said that both the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels are determined to move ahead as quickly as they can, endorsing their commitment to anegotiated political settlement.

During his stay here Helgesen met with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Tamil rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. He briefed the president on the development of the current peace process.

Helgesen said he was impressed by the courage of Prime MinisterWickremesinghe in shifting the total political picture and bringing the process forward. He was also impressed by President Kumaratunga who is supportive of the peace process despite differences.

He expressed the view that the Tamil Tiger rebel leader Prabhakaran is in the process of transforming himself from a guerrilla leader to a democratic politician.

The Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister indicated that the next stage in the peace process would be talks between the government and the Tamil rebels in Thailand in June. At the moment the agendais under preparation together with issues to be discussed.


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