JAN PETERSEN TO VISIT SRI LANKA

THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY

Press Release
04 November 2004

The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jan Petersen, will visit Sri Lanka from 10 to 12 November.

He will meet with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and other government officials. On 11 November, Mr. Petersen will meet the leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabakharan.

The objective of Mr. Petersen’s visit is to maintain close contacts between the facilitator and the parties and to explore with the government and the LTTE possible ways to take the peace process forward.

Mr. Petersen met with President Kumaratunga in New York on 23 September and with the leader of the LTTE Political Wing, Mr. Tamilselvan in Oslo on 20 October. However, there are still some issues that have to be discussed further with the parties before they can resume negotiations.

- This visit is part of our regular contacts with both parties, Mr. Petersen said before leaving Oslo. The purpose is to hear from the parties how they intend to proceed in order to improve respect for the ceasefire agreement, and whether they wish to move towards resuming negotiations. Based on signals received from the parties over recent weeks I do not have high expectations, but in difficult situations it is even more important to keep engaging with the parties.

Mr. Petersen will be accompanied by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Special Advisor Mr. Erik Solheim and Ambassador Hans Brattskar during his programme in Sri Lanka. Mr. Helgesen and Mr. Solheim will extend their stay in Sri Lanka in order to meet with other political leaders, representatives of civil society and the diplomatic community.

The Road to Reconciliation, 2010

Investment and Education for Development
(January 21, 2011)

Speech by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha at the BizPact Investment Forum, Public Library Jaffna, January 6^th 2010.
Stability and Confidence for Revitalization - entrepreneurship and education amongst the resettled
(January 21, 2011)

The process of resettlement is proceeding apace now, with well over 120,000 persons having gone back to locations in the Northern Province. Of these the more complex returns were to areas previously under the control of the LTTE in sections of Mannar and Vavuniya and in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
Civil Military Liaison - The key to social progress
(January 21, 2011)

In the long hard haul that the process of resettlement has entailed, perhaps the most remarkable factor is the role played by the military. After the enormous effort involved in defeating the LTTE, there was no respite for the soldiers. Instead they have continued to work at a level of intensity that is sadly not recognized.
Overcoming constrictions and tyranny - The oppression of the LTTE in Mullaitivu
(January 21, 2011)

One reason why I suspect reconciliation will be easier in Sri Lanka than in many places that have suffered conflict is the level of suffering inflicted by the LTTE on the Tamil people. There was also an extraordinary hierarchical system, which gave great advantages to the privileged whilst the others had to serve them unquestioningly.
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(January 21, 2011)

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(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee has always struck me as a magical place, and I have often wondered whether we might not all have been much better off had President Jayewardene moved the capital there rather than ten miles down the road from Colombo to a place that had no merit, even in his eyes, except for its name. And, even if that idea might be fanciful, our failure over nearly half a decade to develop decent communications, to improve connections between the different areas of Sri Lanka, has struck me as a mark of monumental foolishness, which certainly contributed to the spread of resentment and then terror.
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(January 21, 2011)

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(January 21, 2011)

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I had not been to Amparai for the whole of 2009, so I was wholly unprepared for the tremendous progress the District had registered since my previous visit in the middle of 2008, as Head of the Peace Secretariat. Then the citizens’ committees we met were still worried about security considerations, about restrictions on movement that restrained economic activity, even about the occasional massacre perpetrated by the tiny groups of Tiger guerillas who had survived the clearing of the East.

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JAN PETERSEN TO VISIT SRI LANKA

THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY Press Release04 November 2004

The Road to Reconciliation, 2010

Disclaimer

THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY

Press Release
04 November 2004