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Norway to Continue Effort for Peace in Sri Lanka: FM
Norway will continue its efforts for reviving stalled peace process in war-torn Sri Lanka with a four-member team, the state-run Daily News said on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was quoted by the paper as saying in a statement issued on Wednesday that Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka Jon Westborg informed him that the Norwegian government was willing to continue its assistance to the parties to the conflict so long as its assistance is needed by both parties.
The new Norwegian team consists of Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johanssen, Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka Jon Westborg, Erik Solheim, the former special envoy and Kjersti Tromsdal, executive officer of the Foreign Ministry, he said.
The government said that Norway would participate in the peace process at a "high level" after President Chandrika Kumaratunga met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland on June 7.
The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) warned on Monday Norway's peace initiative would be "permanently damaged" by government's renewed air attacks against their bases in the north at the weekend.
The government said that the latest air strikes against LTTE rebels are preemptive action to prevent possible LTTE attack on Jaffna city in the north.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces in the north and east of the country since 1983 for an independent Tamil homeland. The bloody war has killed some 64,000 people.
The Norwegian-brokered peace process in the country has been deadlocked over a rebel demand to lift the ban on the organization. The government has rejected the demand as "unreasonable".
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