Norwegian Ambassador visits Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 11:27 GMT]
Norwegian ambassador in Sri Lanka Mr. Hans Brattskar said in Trincomalee Wednesday that clarity should prevail in the current political crisis to restart the stalled peace process between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Participating in a discussion with the representatives of the local and international non-governmental organization held at the Trincomalee district secretariat Wednesday morning Mr. Hans Brattskar Wednesday declined to comment on a news report carried by the State controlled Daily News in its late city edition that the Prime Minister is to withdraw from the ceasefire agreement that was signed about two years ago with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

However he said to a query by a member of the non-governmental organization on the newspaper report, "I have not seen any newspaper today. I do not know about that. First I have to get information from my officials in Colombo."

He further said the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has been responsible for the monitoring of the ceasefire agreement, as the SLMM is a part of the peace process.

Later Norwegian ambassador held a discussion with the members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission located in Trincomalee at the latter's office regarding the current ground situation in the district, SLMM sources said.