The Hindu : Colombo-LTTE talks in Sept.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 15, 2002

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International

Colombo-LTTE talks in Sept.

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO Aug. 14. The Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would start "formal talks in Thailand between September 12 and 17, with Norwegian facilitation''.

Announcing this at the end of a two-hour meeting in Oslo between the Sri Lankan Minister for Economic Affairs, Milinda Moragoda, and the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, the Norwegian Government said it will "issue a statement announcing the exact date for the meeting''.

The meeting, the second between Mr. Moragoda, who is one of the Ministers directly involved in the peace process, and Mr. Balasingham, "also covered issues related to the implementation of the ceasefire, resettlement of the internally-displaced persons and the release of detainees'', a Norwegian Foreign Ministry statement said.

While tonight's announcement by Oslo breaks months of uncertainty over when the much-expected direct talks would start, the exact date has not yet been made public. Also, the agenda for the talks, which has still not been announced, is a politically sensitive issue in the island.

While the Tigers have taken the position that the Thai talks would have to discuss interim administration for the north and the east, there has been increasing pressure on the Government to place the core issues of the conflict on the agenda as well.

Terming the atmosphere of the meeting as "cordial and constructive'', the statement said the Tigers had agreed to "investigate'' reported incidents of child recruitment "and take necessary remedial measures''.

Although expectations ran high for the past few months on the dates and agenda for the direct talks, today's announcement is the first time that both parties have made a commitment on the possible dates for commencement of talks.

The Sri Lankan Government had taken the position that it was more important to build a "solid foundation'' before talks could start.

The Norwegian State Secretary, Vidar Heglesen, the special adviser, Eric Solheim, Oslo's envoy in Colombo, Jon Westborg, the adviser, Lisa Golden and the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Trond Furuhovde, were among those present.

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Colombo-LTTE talks in Sept.