Norway shut its embassy in Colombo on Thursday after receiving a letter containing an unidentified white powder, but officials said a string of previous such scares had proved harmless. "We have received some white power, so we've closed the embassy for today," an embassy spokeswoman said. "We do not know yet what it is," she added, saying tests were being conducted. "There are lots of (scares), so this is not the first time."
| And I doubt greatly that it's anything. Anthrax isn't going to come up again for awhile... |
The scare came as Norway's special peace envoy Erik Solheim was wrapping up his latest bid to jumpstart talks to seal permanent peace between Tamil Tiger rebels and the government after two decades of civil war. The hardline, Sinhalese nationalist coalition partner of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government has protested vocally against Norway's mediation in Sri Lanka's peace process in recent months, and even wrote to Norway demanding it bow out. Canada closed down its mission in October when insect powder a visiting Buddhist monk had sprayed on his passport to ward off moths triggered an anthrax scare. The United States embassy in Colombo was shut briefly in August by an anthrax scare after it received a letter containing a suspicious powder, but tests proved negative. |