Solheim briefs Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 May 2004, 14:13 GMT]
Mr. Erik Solheim, the Norwegian peace envoy, Wednesday met with the Leader of the Opposition in Sri Lanka's parliament, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, and briefed him on the outcome of the talks he has had with the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, political leadership of the Liberation Tigers, leaders of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Tamil National Alliance since he arrived in Colombo Saturday, political sources said.

Mr.Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), is reported to have told the peace envoy that his party would not oppose the resumption of peace talks from where it left off and also based on the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal submitted by the LTTE in October last year, sources said.

Meanwhile, Mr.Solheim had told the SLMC leader, Mr.Rauff Hakeem, that the decision to allow Muslim representatives as a separate entity to participate in the future peace talks was in the hands of the government, but he would convey the request of the SLMC to the President, sources said.

During his stay in Colombo, Mr. Solheim twice met with the Indian High Commissioner, Mr.Nirupam Sen, and briefed him about the outcome of the talks he has had in Colombo with the President, LTTE leadership and leaders of SLMC, UNP and TNA, sources said.

Mr. Solheim was scheduled to leave Colombo to New Delhi Wednesday night, sources said.