News
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Peace
process and the written assurance
"This story talks of a Norwegian request for a written undertaking from the Government on the format and the basis on which it wants the peace process resumed. "Similar articles appear in today's issues of the Lakbima, Sudar Oli and Thinakkural. “The President's office wishes to emphasise that at no point did the Norwegian facilitators make such a request. “It is regrettable that the said newspapers have thought it fit to concoct such an untruth on a sensitive national issue as the peace process. "We would appreciate if these journals publish this denial in the next issue." Note
by the News Editor: However, if the Norwegian facilitators were not going to make such a request, one should expect that denial to come from the Norwegians and not from the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo. The Sunday Times stands by the story that Oslo wants UPFA assurances before re-engaging in the peace process, in writing. But to say the newspapers "have thought it fit to concoct such an untruth on a sensitive national issue as the peace process" is, to say the least, an attempt at misleading the public. In fact many such concoctions, like claims that the LTTE has agreed to talk peace without any pre-conditions, unconditionally at the Government's own convenience, have been made in the same week. They are dealt with separately in this newspaper. Firstly, soon after the Government's nominee for the Speaker of Parliament failed to be elected, President Kumaratunga telephoned Norway's Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar (on the night of April 22). She asked that Norway resumes the peace process. She was asked to place that request in writing. It was thereafter that President Kumaratunga telephoned Norwegian Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik. Why was such a written request made by the Norwegian facilitators. The Sunday Times was told that President Kumaratunga wrote to the Norwegian Government in 1999 when she invited them to become facilitators. Similarly, then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, wrote to the Norwegian Government after his Government won the December 2001 Parliamentary general elections. The written request was made in January 2002. Similarly, in keeping with accepted international norms, the Norwegian authorities wanted to make sure there was a formal request after the UPFA Government was voted to power. Since President Kumaratunga had made a phone call to Premier Bondevik, the matter was not pursued. However, yet the Norwegian Government wanted to make sure the UPFA Government abided by the Ceasefire Agreement, a pivotal part of the peace process. This is why both the Norwegian Government and the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) made requests directly to Pesident Kumaratunga asking in writing her Government's commitment to the CFA. The matter is better explained in the words of Agnes Braggadotir, spokesperson for the SLMM. She told The Sunday Times "both the SLMM and the Norwegian facilitators (Government) did request for a written statement from the President on the Government's commitment to the Ceasefire Agreement. "The commitment was requested from the President at a meeting SLMM Head, Maj. Gen. (retd.) Trond Furuhovde had with President Kumaratunga. She had said there was no need to give it in writing since her commitment had been reported in the media. The SLMM accepted this position. A similar request was also made by the Norwegian Government." |
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