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Norwegian Envoy to Meet Sri Lanka's Tamil Rebel Leader
Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim is expected to return here in the next few days and proceed to meet leader of Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels Velupillai Prabhakaran in Wanni, the rebel headquarters in the north of the country, diplomatic sources said Sunday.
Solheim is expected to convey to the government the understanding he reached with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels on possible peace talks.
Solheim and Norway's ambassador to Colombo Jon Westborg are currently in Indian to brief Indian officials including Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh on recent talks Solheim had with President Chandrika Kumaratunga in Colombo and LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham in London.
The Indian foreign minister is reported to have told the Norwegian envoy that his country is fully committed to the peace process in Sri Lanka and wants a quick and lasting solution in which the country's territorial integrity and unity should be preserved and the aspirations of all communities be fulfilled.
Solheim has been engaged in bringing the two warring parties to negotiating table during the past two years but the peace process in the country has come to a deadlock over ceasefire issue. The LTTE extended their unilateral ceasefire which started last December for a second time till March 24 and requested the government to reciprocate their truce offer.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 in the north and east of the country for a separate Tamil state. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the bloody war.
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