Over the past days we have had
a large number of meetings, including three with Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, two with President
Chandrika Bandanaraike Kumaratunga and one yesterday
with LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakharan.
Yesterday, in our meeting with the
LTTE in Kilinochchi, Mr Prabakharan asked for a
guarantee that the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) would
be respected. In particular he wanted an assurance
that the freedom of movement for political cadres
be respected in areas held by the Government. We
have received very clear assurances that the CFA
will be respected and that the Sri Lankan Armed
Forces (SLAF) are instructed to continue extending
their full co-operation with the Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission. The freedom of operation and the security
of SLMM personnel is of particular importance to
the Nordic countries participating in the SLMM.
The international community has
shown a remarkable degree of support and interest
for the peace process in Sri Lanka. The amount of
money pledged in the donor conferences in Oslo in
November last year and in Tokyo in June this year
clearly demonstrates the commitment of the international
community to assisting Sri Lanka in its efforts
for peace.
Since last week, however, developments
that are not part and parcel of the peace process
have changed that picture dramatically. The resumption
of peace talks is seriously impeded by the political
crisis in the south. This has disturbed the peace
process and caused serious concerns in the international
community.
We deem this a very serious situation.
Not because the peace process is fragile, but because
it might be made fragile. Even though most concerned
parties and players pledge their commitment to upholding
the ceasefire, and even though there is overwhelming
public support for the peace process, we need to
make clear that the ceasefire will be much more
difficult to sustain in a political vacuum. If progress
in the political negotiations is made impossible,
the ceasefire will become increasingly fragile.
It is clearly not, and it has never
been, within Norway’s mandate to facilitate
between the political parties in the south. As far
as our mandate goes, we have one clear conclusion:
Peace talks could have started tomorrow, provided
there were clarity about who is holding political
authority and responsibility on behalf of the Government
to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire agreement
and the resumption of peace negotiations. Until
last week there was such clarity. Today there is
no such clarity.
Until such clarity is re-established,
there is no space for further efforts by the Norwegian
government to assist the parties.