The Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) held their regular weekly meeting on Thursday.  A representative from the Peace Secretariat for Muslims participated.

The SLMM announced that an international monitor would be located at its office in Jaffna on a permanent basis. Although the SLMM office in Jaffna has been open it had been manned by SLMM’s national staff with international monitors traveling to Jaffna regularly. The SLMM thanked the SCOPP for its support regarding the re-establishment of a permanent international monitoring presence in Jaffna.  The SCOPP welcomed this initiative and said that a permanent presence of an SLMM international monitor in Jaffna was important at this time.

In response to a question raised by SCOPP regarding the impact of the extended opening of the Omantai Entry/Exit (E/E) point, SLMM said that there were signs that the move had had positive effects and stated that its monitors had noted that more commodities were being brought in and out of Vanni.