 | Just as soon as the World Cup is over. Would you care for some lutefisk? |
COLOMBO - Norway was reconsidering its peacebroker role on Friday as Tiger rebels aborted talks and demanded the removal of ceasefire monitors from European Union member states. “The parties must take responsibility for the worsening situation,” Norway’s top peace envoy Erik Solheim told AFP in Oslo. ”They have been acting contrary to our advice.
“There is at the present time no room for a Norwegian initiative in the peace process,” an angry Solheim said.
| And you don't want to anger a Norwegian. |
However, the Sri Lankan government Friday reiterated that it was still ready for a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict, which has claimed at least 60,000 lives since 1972. “We have not lost hope,” media minister Anura Yapa said. “Still, we believe we can start negotiations and come into some agreement with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).”
Norway demanded Friday that Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels reaffirm their commitment to the Oslo-led peace process, saying their replies would dictate its future participation. In a hard-hitting statement blaming Tigers for the impasse, Norway said the situation was grave after the parties failed to discuss the safety of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) observing an already troubled truce.
| What comes after 'hard-hitting statement'? |
The rebels, meanwhile, called for removal of truce monitors from European Union states, following an EU decision last month to put the LTTE on its list of terrorist organisations.
Norway, Sri Lanka’s peacebroker since January 2000, called the failure to hold the meeting between Colombo and the LTTE on Thursday a major blow to their peace efforts. “The Norwegian government is profoundly concerned with the gravity of the situation on the ground, the objection by the LTTE to collaborate with the SLMM with its present composition, the lack of dialogue between the parties ...” Norway said. It also raised doubts over the “continued full commitment of the parties to the ceasefire agreement.”
| The bullets whizzing by might suggest that, yes. |
Oslo said it had taken the “unprecedented step” of writing to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to ask about their commitment to the process. “The responses by the parties ... will determine which steps will next have to be taken by the Norwegian government and the SLMM in close partnership with other actors in the international community,” the statement said. |