Limited press access to talks at Geneva Ecumenical Institute

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 February 2006, 00:41 GMT]
Talks on Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam scheduled for 22-23rd February are to be held at Conference center of Ecumenical Institute, Chateau de Bossey located 22 km northwest of Geneva. Press access to the talks are limited to the opening statements on Wednesday and to the media briefing immediately after the adjournment of the talks on Thursday, a press release from the Swiss officials said.

Swiss officials informed the press that bus transport will be provided to the registered press personnel from the Geneva Press Club at 7.00 a.m. Wednesday in time for the opening statements by the facilitator of the talks, Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim and Swiss Political Director of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Urs Ziswiler.

Similar arrangements will also be made 16.00 p.m. Thursday in time for a media briefing at the conclusion of talks, the release said.

While the Sri Lanka government is proposing to present a draft of an amended Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) prepared by a legal team, Liberation Tigers Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist Anton Balasingham had told Colombo weekly Sunday Leader that the LTTE delegation "will not accept any amendments or annexures to the CFA, but rather insist on full and effective implementation of the terms and conditions of the truce."

Further, media reports from Colombo said that article 4.3 of the CFA requires the party requesting amendments to CFA to submit a written request to the Norwegian facilitators and that no such requests have been made until Friday.

The Conference Hall is located in Bossey, a town located approximately in the middle of the green isthmus in the southwestern region of Switzerland, in the canton called Canton de Vaud (VD).

"Bossey is a place which strengthens, transforms and enriches identities. Through study and research, through life and encounter, through dialogue with a multicultural and multiconfessional community, people come to better understand and appreciate their own tradition and identity, thereby enriching it with new perspectives. Bossey prepares people to be agents of reconciliation, mutual respect and cooperation among Christians and with all God's people of good will," says the Institute's website.

Switzerland is bordered by Austria, France, Italy, and Germany, and is composed of 26 cantons, or states which act as unified little countries to form the Helvetic Confederation (CH), or Switzerland.

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About the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey