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On the invitation of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran a Norwegian special envoy left for Wanni last Tuesday after obtaining permission from the Sri Lankan government to mediate peace talks with the LTTE, the Presidential Secretariat said. The Norwegian team held talks with the LTTE in Wanni on October 31 and November 1, after which they returned to Colombo, sources confirmed. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar will meet the Norwegians in Colombo soon to discuss the outcome of talks with the LTTE leader. The government did not send a message to the LTTE through the Norwegian delegation. Meanwhile at a press briefing in Colombo the Norwegian special team told media groups that Prabhakaran has responded positively on commencing peace negotiations. “ The talks were serious, frank, open and very useful,” Eric Solheim, Norwegian special envoy leader, said last night. “ But I do not want to go into details of the talks we had with the LTTE leadership,” he said. The discussions were based on two principles of Oslo’s opinion, firstly there could be no new independent states within Sri Lanka and secondly the aspirations of the Tamils should be met in a substantial manner. When asked about Prabhakaran’s view on this particular principle of the international community Solheim declined to comment. “ Any peace process takes time and it is very difficult but we are optimistic,” he said when asked about his optimism about the final outcome of the process.
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