Solheim meets Thilak in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 08:13 GMT]
Norwegian special envoy Mr. Erik Solheim told Mr.S.Thilak, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at the discussion held Friday morning at the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee that he met Colonel Pathuman, Trincomalee district commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at Killinochchi Thursday.

The meeting between Mr.Solheim and Colonel Pathuman took place Thursday (March 11) in the background of a false report carried by the State controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) on March 8 that Colonel Pathuman had been killed on the orders of LTTE leadership.

Mr. Erik Solheim Thursday evening arrived in Trincomalee and held discussion with Major General Sunil Tennekon, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Sri Lanka Army for the Trincomalee district Friday morning. Army authorities briefed Mr.Solheim about the ground situation in the Trincomalee district and problems confronting the implementation of the ceasefire, which has been holding for more than two years since February 22, 2002, SLMM sources, said.

The discussion focused on the recent development in the east following internal problems of the LTTE and the relationship between the Tamil and Muslim communities in the Trincomalee district, military sources said.

Later Mr. Erik Solheim commenced discussion at about 11 a.m. with a LTTE delegation led by its Trincomalee district political head Mr.S.Thilak. The other members of the LTTE delegation are Miss Kaaronja, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE women wing and TEEDOR Trincomalee district head Mr.S.Tharman, sources said.