Home>>World
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 05, 2002

Sri Lankan Government Defends Norwegian Role in Peace

Sri Lankan government on Tuesday defended the role of Norway as peace facilitators in the country in the face of criticism by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.


PRINT DISCUSSION CHINESE SEND TO FRIEND


Sri Lankan government on Tuesday defended the role of Norway as peace facilitators in the country in the face of criticism by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

"We are proud of the role played by Norway. They are doing everything within their power to bring the parties together," Government spokesman and Constitutional Minister G.L Peiris told reporters here.

Kumaratunga claimed that the agreement authorizes the Norwegian government to demarcate lines of control between the government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and she compared it to that of Kashmir.

Peiris denied that the Norwegian government will be demarcating boundaries and therefore "reference to Kashmir was misleading and incorrect".

He dismissed Kumaratunga's comments as "concerns which are not genuine". The signing of the truce agreement is seen as the first step in peace process.

"This is only a ceasefire agreement. We will start talks to discuss substantial issues to be ironed out in two months time," Peiris stressed.

Norway is trying to broker peace between the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels. The long-running ethnic conflict has left over 64,000 dead.

In a letter to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the truce pact signed between him and Tamil rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on February 22, Kumaratunga questioned the role of the Norwegian government in the current peace process. She said that Norway is acting as a mediator or arbitrator in the resolution of disputes between the parties rather than a facilitator as her previous People's Alliance government had defined.





Questions?Comments? Click here
    Advanced

Sri Lankan PM Calls for Support to Ceasefire With Tamil Tiger

 

Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved