Norwegian ambassador meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2003, 13:40 GMT]
The newly appointed Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, accompanied by the outgoing ambassador, Mr. Jon Westborg, Wednesday held extensive talks with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, at the LTTE's headquarters in Kilinochchi, Vanni sources said.

The talks commenced at about 10.40 a.m. and concluded at about 1 p.m. Thereafter the Country Director of the World Bank Mr. Peter Harrold held talks with Mr.Thamilchevan, the sources said.

The Norwegian ambassador later told local journalists that he discussed several problems confronting the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of Sri lanka and the LTTE. He would inform the Prime Minister the outcome of the talks once he returned Colombo, Vanni sources said.

The team of Norwegian diplomats and the Country Director of the World Bank arrived in Kilinochchi Wednesday morning by a SLAF helicopter. This was the first visit by the ambassador to Kilinochchi, sources said.

The ambassador handed over two letters to Mr.Thamilchevan, one written by Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe in reply to the letter by the LTTE’s Political Advisor Mr.Anton Balasingham that the LTTE leadership had decided to suspend its participation in the peace talks for the time being until decisions arrived at earlier talks were implemented.

The other letter was by the Secretary General of the Government's Peace Secretariat, Mr.Bernard Goonetilleke, in reply to the letter by Mr.Thamilchelvan that the LTTE was withdrawing from the Subcommittee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN) meeting according to the decision of the LTTE leadership, sources said.