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Crash course for peace delegation
By Dilmini Samaranayake
The government’s peace delegation to Geneva is to be given a crash course in the fundamentals of negotiating next week in Colombo to prepare them to meet a formidable team of LTTE negotiators.

The inexperienced Sri Lanka delegation led by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva is to undergo a "training," programme in the coming week. The programme will be conducted by local experts.

None of the senior members of the delegation has taken part previously in any of the peace talks with the LTTE, nor sat at National Security Council meetings.

Among the subjects taught during this sandwich course on the peace process are the basics of constitutional government such as what is federalism, confederalism, the difference between united, unitary, the provisons of the 2002 Ceasefire agreement and its violations, and the dos and don'ts in negotiating.

The course is being conducted under the auspices of the President's Office. Efforts are also being made to get a team of international experts from South Africa and Northern Ireland. Conflict resolution expert John Paul Lederach from the United States is also expected to be part of the team.

However, officials were unsure if they could collect this team before the mid-February talks in Geneva. Otherwise, the 'local conflict resolution experts' will be asked to bring the Sri Lankan delegation up to speed.

The government has informed the LTTE that it is ready for the talks in Geneva on Feb. 15-16. The government picked the dates from three options between Feb. 15 and 23 and made known its decision through the Norwegian peace brokers on Thursday. However, the LTTE is yet to respond.

The government last week picked its delegation for the Geneva talks amid major lobbying from various quarters to be included in the negotiating team.
The government has announced that Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva will head the negotiating team. The rest of the team is yet to be officially announced but ministers Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and Rohitha Bogollagama are likely to be in the team, presidential sources said.

Senior lawyer and diplomat Faiz Musthapha is likely to be the delegation to represent the Muslim community though the SLMC is asking for a separate Muslim delegation.

An advisory team, including military and legal officers and a Sri Lanka UN expert, is set to accompany the main team, the presidential source said.
Meanwhile, Swiss and Norwegian officials are still to pick a location for the Geneva talks.

The location is expected to be a secluded venue with limited or no access to the media. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera indicated last week that the media would not be given the same access or facilities as provided in the earlier rounds of peace talks during the UNF regime.

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