Peace shuttle by Norwegian facilitator Erik Solheim
[12 Mar 2001]

Norwegian peace envoy, Erik Solheim is due to arrive in Colombo this week after talks with LTTE negotiator Anton Balasingham.

In the meantime, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga left Colombo over the weekend, on a visit to Europe, to visit Belgium, Netherlands and possibly London.  Earlier last week, the Norwegian facilitator met President Kumaratunga, other government officials and Opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe. 

Despite the fact that the LTTE have declared their willingness to hold talks with the Sri Lankan government, they have broken their unilateral ceasefire and attacked troops and villagers, Defence sources confirmed.  Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte stated in Parliament last week that the LTTE had violated their unilateral cease-fire, 35 times in the past month.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has stated that peace talks could start within two months. 

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