Govt. under heavy pressure from Co-chairs

Sri Lanka's major aid donors who met in Oslo this week to review developments in Sri Lanka have set a four-point agenda to end the ongoing fighting and resume peace talks. The Donor Co-chairs of the peace process, as they identify themselves, will deliver strong messages both to the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They were reached at a meeting in Oslo last Monday and Tuesday where a critical assessment of developments in Sri Lanka was made.

The main message from the Co-chairs is that there is no military solution to the ethnic conflict. They have expressed the view that a lasting solution to the conflict could be possible between the Government and the LTTE. The other factors on the Co-chairs agenda are: Need for measures to curb human rights violations both by the Government and the LTTE; allowing Norwegian facilitators to visit Kilinochchi for meetings with LTTE leaders; and, formulation of a "credible" Political Package to end the conflict.

The Co-chairs have expressed the view that parties can be brought to the negotiation table by them provided the commitment to peaceful negotiations first comes from the Government. They are of the opinion that proposals formulated by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which incorporates devolution at district level will only move the peace process backwards rather than moving forward.

The Co-chairs have decided that both the Government and the LTTE should be given debriefings on the deliberations and decisions at their Oslo meeting. German Ambassador Juergen Weerth, is expected to brief Government leaders. Germany holds the presidency of the European Union. It is likely that the LTTE will be briefed when Norway's Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer, now cleared to visit the Wanni, arrives in Sri Lanka and travels to Kilinochchi. A Government source who responded to the Co-chair agenda declared "we are not at odds with the decisions they have taken. In fact President Rajapaksa told Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim in Geneva that he was committed to a political solution. The proposals of the SLFP was only a part of what APRC (All Party Representative Committee) has received. They will make the final decision. Issues of human rights and related mattes are now receiving the attention of the Government."