COLOMBO - Nordic ceasefire monitors began wrapping up their six-year mission to Sri Lanka on Friday after the government scrapped a truce with the Tamil Tigers, and their mandate, amid a chorus of international concernPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration formally notified mediator Norway late on Thursday it was giving a stipulated 14-day notice period to end the truce. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said on Friday the government would need to “redefine” Norway’s role in light of the end of the truce, but did not specify how.
The move means the gloves finally come off on Jan. 16, and analysts and diplomats expect an intensification of the fighting that resumed almost as soon as Rajapaksa took power in late 2005 as the truce effectively broke down on the ground.
The Nordic Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which kept a tally of violations of the truce agreement, was initially seen as a deterrent to human rights abuses by both sides but became increasingly ineffective as its access in conflict areas was hampered. Its role ends with the ceasefire. “We’re beginning to move towards (a pullout),” a spokeswoman for the monitors said. “It’s not far, it’s only a few days. We of course have offices and personnel all over the place, so yes, we’re definitely moving towards that.”