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Solheim due to jump-start peace process
Bala to prepare for talks with Prabhakaran
By Dilmini Samaranayake
Norwegian Development Minister Erik Solheim will arrive here next week in what is expected to be the most crucial visit to try and stop the island from plunging back to full scale war.

Mr. Solheim is scheduled to arrive on January 23 and go straight into talks with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. He will meet President Mahinda Rajapakse the next day, ahead of flying to rebel-held Kilinochchi for crucial talks with LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The LTTE’s ideologue Anton Balasingham is expected ahead of Mr. Solheim’s visit to prepare for the talks. Norwegian peace-brokers had recommended Mr. Balasingham’s visit in the wake of deadly attacks by suspected Tigers, which has left scores of security forces dead in recent weeks.

Although initially apprehensive about a possible LTTE attack on the Air Force, the Government has agreed to provide a helicopter for Mr. Balasingham to travel from the Bandaranaike International Airport to Kilinochchi on his arrival from London.

However, the Government is considering the insistence of a Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission representative to be on board during the two-way trip, in addition to officials from the Norwegian Embassy and the Secretariat Coordinating the Peace Process.

The Government has pinned all its hopes on Mr. Solheim to save the process, even though he has been consistently labeled as the ‘black sheep,’ among the peace facilitators by the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
“At the moment there is a deadlock with regard to a venue,” Cabinet spokesman Nimal Siripala De Silva said.

“I hope his visit will be fruitful ... he will be able to break the ice,” he said.
Mr. De Silva made the comment while assuring that the government ‘will not start the war.’

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