Norway to send Furuhovde as special representative to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 September 2005, 09:35 GMT]
While the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are yet to agree on the venue acceptable for both parties for direct talks, the Norwegian Government is to send Major General (ret’d) Trond Furuhovde, former Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), as special representative of the Royal Norwegian Government. Furuhovde will consult with both parties on the security situation and on the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), a press release issued by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Friday said.

Fulltext of the press release follows:

Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
09.09.2005

Norway sends special representative to Sri Lanka

The Royal Norwegian Government is deeply concerned by the continuing violence in Sri Lanka over the past months, which undermines the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

As facilitator, the Royal Norwegian Government has sought for the past three weeks to convene a meeting between the parties, at their request, to discuss implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement. We regret to conclude that the parties have not reached agreement on the venue for such a meeting at this juncture.

While the parties have not been able to agree on the venue for a meeting, Major General (ret’d) Trond Furuhovde, former head of mission of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, will visit Sri Lanka within the next month as special representative of the Royal Norwegian Government. Furuhovde will consult with both parties on the security situation and the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement.

Norway will also host an extraordinary meeting of the Sri Lanka co-chairs – USA, EU (European Commission and UK EU Presidency), Japan and Norway in New York on 19 September. The aim of this meeting is to address the need to strengthen respect for the Ceasefire Agreement in the increasingly difficult security situation.