John Cushnahan, a senior member of the European Parliament and Chief Observer at two General Elections in Sri Lanka, was in the country from 2-11 May 2003.

While in Colombo, Mr Cushnahan called on the Prime Minister, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe. He also met with Ministers Milinda Moragoda, Prof G L Peiris, and Tyronne Fernando. Meetings also took place with the Opposition Leader, Mahinda Rajapakse, members of several Tamil political parties, and the JVP.

Mr Cushnahan travelled to Kilinochchi, where he had a four-hour meeting with Mr S P Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE’s political wing; and he also toured Jaffna.

On his visit to Batticaloa, Mr Cushnahan paid a courtesy call on His Lordship the Bishop of Trincomalee-Batticaloa, Kingsley Swamipillai. He also had meetings with citizens’ committees, representatives of all political parties, members of the Muslim community, the SLMM and NGOs.