Talks prospects bleak, until SL military backed violence ends- Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 22:53 GMT]
"Unless the [Sri Lanka] government takes effective measures to end this series of violence perpetrated on the LTTE, it is hard to imagine how one can seriously talk about recommencing peace talks," Balasingham, theoretician and advisor to the Liberation Tigers, told Norwegian Special envoy Erik Solheim when they held discussions Tuesday in London, LTTE peace secretariat website said.

Norway's Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr.Hans Brattskar, also participated in the meeting at the South London home of Mr.Balasingham.

Mr. Balasingam expressed the LTTE's concern over the killings in the East carried out by armed groups, with the assistance of the Sri Lanka military intelligence units, and told the Norwegian envoys that the killlings are a clear violation of the Cease Fire Agreement, the report further said.

The envoys agreed to convey the views of Mr.Balasingham to the Government of Sri Lanka.

Mr. Solheim is expected to be in Colombo on 13 September and Mr. Brattskar is returning to Colombo on Saturday.

Mr. Solheim is scheduled to meet Sri Lanka's President, the Prime Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition in Colombo. He is then expected to travel to Kilinochchi to meet LTTE's Head of Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan.