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Talks: safe travel promise for LTTE

V.S. Sambandan

Norwegian Special Envoy cites polarisation, calls for confidence-building measures

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday guaranteed safe travel for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) delegation through Colombo to participate at the peace talks scheduled to be held in Geneva from April 19.

Expressing satisfaction at the guarantee, Norwegian Minister for International Development Erik Solheim said he was optimistic that the talks would go ahead as scheduled.

"The LTTE requested a very clear cut guarantee from the President that all security would be provided when it is passing through Colombo. President Rajapakse gave a clear guarantee that he would do everything to make certain that no harm happens to the LTTE delegation," he told the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka. "We expect the next round of talks to go ahead."

Recent media reports said the LTTE had demanded a sea-plane to fly out of the rebel-held north, bypassing Colombo, citing security threats.

Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer called for confidence-building measures. "There is a polarisation which we need to overcome to move forward." Mr. Solheim and Mr. Hanssen-Bauer earlier met Mr. Rajapakse.

On the developments since the February round of Geneva talks, Mr. Solheim said there had been a "lack of implementation of what was agreed upon in Geneva." He described the LTTE's attack on a naval boat as "completely unacceptable."

The violence by "paramilitaries" against the LTTE had also not stopped, and there was a "lack of action" against those operating in Government-held Sri Lanka, he said.

Mr. Solheim said mere talks were not enough. "The purpose of the peace talks is not to meet, but to move towards peace."

Mr. Solheim and Mr. Hanssen-Bauer left for India on Thursday, where they would brief the Indian leadership, as has been the practice over the past years.

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