Don't draw hasty cnclusions: Norway to Lanka, LTTE

Colombo, Oct 30: Despite the failure of the two-day direct talks in Geneva between the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tiger rebels, the Norwegian facilitators today has urged the warring parties "not to draw hasty conclusions" that could worsen the civilian sufferings in the island nation.

"I encouraged the parties to allow themselves some time to reflect on the situation and not to draw hasty conclusions or take actions that could increase the suffering of civilians in Sri Lanka," Norway's top peace envoy and Minister of International Development, Eric Solheim said in a statement.

Mr Solheim said that although the two-day discussion between the parties focused on the need to address urgent humanitarian situation, mainly in the Northern Jaffna peninsula, "no agreement was reached between the parties on how to address the humanitarian crisis".

"No date for a new meeting was agreed upon. Norway will be in ongoing dialogue with the parties to discuss all possible ideas on how to move the peace process forward," Mr Soheim said.

Claiming that both parties reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire agreement and "promised not to launch any military offensives", the Norwegian Minister pointed out the repeated call by the international community urging the parties "to show restraint and fulfill these commitments".

The government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE blamed each other for the breakdown of talks in Geneva, which was held without a common agreed agenda.

The LTTE wanted the A9 Jaffna-Kandy main highway to be opened, but the Government refused to do so at this point.

The govenment wanted to discuss the core political issues to resolve the long-drawn conflict, but the LTTE wad adamant that people were suffering immensely due to the closure of the A9 highway and wanted it be opened first.

A top political analyst said that the talks failed because the Norwegian facilitators did not do adequate ground work and thus it was held in an atmosphere of mutual animosity.

"This was not conducive for a positive outcome. Therefore, the Norwegian facilitators and the Co-chairs should take the first blame," the analyst said.

He opined that the government of Sri Lanka has "put the cart before the horse" by focusing on issues like democracy and pluralism, while the Tigers laid stress on immediate issues, like strengthening the CFA and opening the Colombo-Jaffna highway to alleviate the suffering of the people in Jaffna.

"All is not lost yet, because the two sides have agreed to stick to negotiations and uphold the ceasefire agreement even though they could not agree on the next round of talks, the analyst said, adding that the international community should exert adequate pressure squarely and fairly on both sides to move forward.

UNI