President shuns Solheim again

President Mahinda Rajapakse has turned down a request by Norway's Special Envoy and Minister for International Development, Erik Solheim, for a meeting during his three-day visit to New Delhi beginning Tuesday.

The purpose was to discuss matters relating to the resumption of the peace talks and discussions with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the working of the Ceasefire Agreement.

The move stems from Government's keenness to have Norway play the role of peace facilitator under a set of new guidelines. In terms of this, President Rajapakse's Government wants a greater interaction between the foreign ministries of Colombo and Oslo.

Matters relating to this had been explained to Norway's new Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store during talks Mr. Samaraweera held on the sidelines of the WTO meeting in Hong Kong last week. Though Mr. Gahr declared Norway's plans to name another Special Envoy and a team of facilitators, he had made clear Mr. Solheim would continue to play a pivotal role in the peace process. In fact, Mr. Solheim had arrived in Hong Kong to be on hand during talks between Ministers Samaraweera and Gahr.

President Rajapakse's decision not to meet up with Mr. Solheim during his three-day visit will mean there will be a delay in the latter's visit to Colombo. Consequently, the resumption of any Norwegian peace initiatives will also be delayed. Against this backdrop, despite inviting the Government of Norway to resume the role of peace facilitator, the Government on Friday used for the first time the good offices of the Donor Co-Chairs including Norway to communicate with the LTTE. This is the first time such a step has been taken during the near-four-year ceasefire. The Co-Chair envoys met LTTE Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan.

An official Government statement on Friday accused the LTTE of showing scant regard for the provisions of the Ceasefire Agreement. Their continued attacks, the statement added, raises serious doubts about the LTTE's commitment to a political solution.

The envoys flew by a Sri Lanka Air Force aircraft to Vavuniya. They crossed the Omanthai checkpoint in vehicles provided by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and travelled along the A-9 highway to Kilinochchi.

It came after Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera held a meeting with envoys of the Donor Co-chairs at Temple Trees on Friday. Present at the meeting were envoys from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan and Norway. The United States is also a Co-Chair but the embassy did not send a representative with this delegation.

Mr. Wickremanayake appealed to them to ascertain from the LTTE whether it was still committed to the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002. If they were in fact bound by it, Mr. Wickremanayake said the Government of Sri Lanka wished to have from the LTTE a date for the resumption of the peace talks.

The clarification on the CFA and a date to resume peace talks if they are committed had been sought in the wake of rising violence for which the Government has categorically accused the LTTE. The immediate cause for the meeting of envoys of Donor Co-chairs was Friday's incident in Mannar where 13 soldiers were killed in a claymore mine and Rocket Propelled Grenade attack.

Besides Premier Wickremanayake meeting the envoys of the Donor Co-chairs, President Mahinda Rajapakse also chaired a meeting of the National Security Council on Frdiay where several important decisions were made. Special envoy for peace process. President Mahinda Rajapakse is to appoint a special envoy for the peace process.

A Presidential source told The Sunday Times yesterday that such a special envoy would spearhead the peace process and remain a main link between the President and others on the Government side. A suitable candidate will be appointed shortly, the source said.

Pro-Tamil Tiger rebel Parliament member fatally shot in eastern Sri Lanka amid escalating violence

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Tamil legislator Joseph Pararajasingham during midnight Christmas mass at a church, the Defense Ministry said Sunday - as escalating violence threatened to shatter the country's cease-fire.

The attackers fired at Pararajasingham, 71, while he was at the St. Michael's church after midnight in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka's main town, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.

His wife, Sugunam Pararajasingha , and eight others with him, escaped with injuries. Pararajasingham's bodyguards had opened fire, but it was not known if any of the assailants were wounded.

Pararajasingham represented the Tamil National Alliance, a proxy party of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which wants to create a Tamil homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic Tamil minority. A breakaway faction of the rebels is opposed to the alliance.

On Saturday, envoys from Asia and Europe met with the Tamil Tiger rebels' top political leader, expressing concern that growing violence was threatening to shatter the country's cease-fire, officials and the rebels said.

But violence continued, with one soldier and five rebels dead in a battle in the rebel's heartland, the Jaffna Peninsula on Saturday, the military said.

``The terrorists attacked our troops and we had to open fire in self defense,'' said Defense Ministry spokesman Samarasinghe.

``We have found weapons and evidence that the deceased were terrorists,'' he said.

The day before on Friday, 13 members of Sri Lanka's navy traveling in a bus were killed in an ambush.

In response to the violence, envoys from Japan, Britain, Norway and European Union, representing key backers of Sri Lanka's peace process, met with S. P. Thamilselvan Saturday in the northern guerrilla stronghold of Kilinochchi.

``The delegation briefed Mr. Thamilselvan on the ... concern over the escalating violence and the necessity to start talks on effective implementation of the cease-fire agreement since it is felt that the (truce) is running into grave risk,'' the rebels said on their Web site.

Thamilselvan assured the envoys of the rebels' ``commitment to the peace process and the cease-fire,'' said the statement.

Violence has escalated in Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil-majority northeast since rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran threatened to resume his struggle for an independent Tamil homeland if the government fails to address Tamils' grievances.

This month alone, at least 34 government security personnel were killed and many more injured in attacks blamed on the rebels.