At the weekly meeting with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Meeting held at the Peace Secretariat this morning, the issue of a visit to Kilinochchi by an Icelandic diplomat was discussed. He had entered the country on a tourist visa, but had traveled, in the company of the SLMM Liaison Officer for the Vanni, to Kilinochchi without permission from the relevant authorities. It was reported that this was in view of him possibly applying for a position with the SLMM.

The SLMM Head of Mission had not however known previously that he would be taken to the LTTE Peace Secretariat, nor that he would there meet the LTTE political head, Mr Thamilchelvam. It had in fact been reported to him that Mr Thamilchelvam’s presence there at the time of the visit had been coincidental, and the impression created by the LTTE that formal discussions had taken place was incorrect. The gentleman had represented neither the Icelandic Foreign Ministry nor the SLMM during his visit.

Head of Mission did not think that the report in one paper, that the gentleman had visited the Politial and Administrative Offices of the LTTE, could be accurate, though he agreed to check on this and report back. SCOPP also pointed out that, even accepting the position that the meeting had been accidental, it was singularly inappropriate that the LTTE was told that the visitor, when not on holiday, worked for the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SLMM, while agreeing to check on how the information had been given, pointed out that the LTTE was extremely well informed and might have been aware of this independently.

Though the SLMM had previously hoped to bring the gentleman to the Peace Secretariat, it had refrained from doing so in view of the inappropriacy of what had transpired and the unfortunate use made of this by the L   TTE. The SLMM mentioned that they had reported earlier in the day to the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry and expressed their regrets about the incident.

In response to a question about the manner in which the gentleman had got through the checkpoint, it was noted that sometimes vehicles belonging to established agencies such as the SLMM were not checked. SLMM agreed that, in view of what had transpired, it was appropriate that the Ministry of Defence exercise greater caution and ensure that checking of all vehicles and the individuals traveling in them be carefully done.

Prof Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary General
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process