EU delegation meets LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 July 2002, 10:22 GMT]
Ambassadors and Deputy Heads of Mission of six European Union countries visited the Vanni Wednesday, and held discussions with the head of the Liberation Tigers’ political section, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan. The delegation was headed by Mr. Salvatore Zotta, Ambassador of Italy and Chairman of the EU Heads of Mission in Colombo.

The other delegates were Mr. Juergen Elias, German Ambassador, Ms. Mary Pagnier, Ambassador of France, Mr. Peter Hughes, Deputy High Commissioner for Britain, Mr. Anders Ericson, Deputy Head of Mission for the Embassy of Sweden and Mr. Harry Van Vikj, Deputy Head of Mission for the Embassy of Netherlands.

They met Mr. Tamilselvan at the LTTE political headquarters in Kilinochchi. The two hours of discussions which began at 10am were described as ‘cordial and constructive’ by LTTE sources.

The diplomats expressed their full support for the Norwegian peace process. The diplomats also pointed out the necessity of commencing urgent development projects in the North and East of the island.

Mr. Tamilselvan requested the diplomats to urge the Sri Lankan government to implement in full the ceasefire agreement signed in February. He also discussed the establishment of an interim administration in the war torn areas of the north and east.