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Japan ready to assist Norway in peace building
By Faraza Farook
Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi said yesterday that Japan was willing to supplement Norway's role in the peace process, but would not play the role of mediator.

Mr. Akashi speaking at a news conference after five days of intensive consultations said if the two parties agreed, Japan was ready to assist Norway in peace building. Mr. Akashi, who had talks in New Delhi before coming to Colombo said India while confirming its support to the peace process had remarked that the conflict should be resolved through the efforts and negotiations of the two parties concerned and that there was a limit to what outside countries could do.

He said India understood well that Japan, as an Asian country and in view of its involvement in peace building in other conflict areas, was not interfering in the peace process, but only wished to assist. "Because of India's long experience, some of which was bitter, India has obvious reasons to be careful," Mr. Akashi said.

Being the largest donor to Sri Lanka, contributing 45% of the external aid and due to its clsoe relationship as a Buddhist country, Japan wished to supplement the efforts of Norway to help accelerate the peace process, he said. Japan will be a "hands-on-representative" and will not take over a full time role, Mr. Akashi said. He said he would be visiting Sri Lanka more often to assess the progress made in the peace process and other developmental work.

He called on donor governments to come out not only with funding support, but with expertise and equipment to help rebuild Sri Lanka. Emphasizing on the need for development, he pointed out that if the people in the North and East did not tangibly feel peace, then there was always the risk of returning to war.

The World Bank and the ADB with the assistance of the Government would undertake a comprehensive needs assessment in Sri Lanka with a lot of attention on the North and East. This would assist donor governments to decide what kind of help or support they need to extend. A draft report of the study would be made available by April, he said.

Mr. Akashi said the meeting with the JVP gave him "another perspective" of the peace process.

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