Peace brokers head to Sri Lanka

Norwegian envoys who are trying to help broker Sri Lanka’s peace with its Tamil Tiger rebels headed for the island nation today while its president and prime minister remained locked in a power struggle that has thrown uncertainty on the peace process.

Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s deputy foreign minister, and special envoy Erik Solheim were expected to arrive later today to discuss the future of peace efforts, which have drawn fierce criticism from President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

She has accused Norway of overstepping its bounds and has accused her political rival at home, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, of conceding too much to the Tigers.

Last week, she made a series of power grabs against the prime minister, including firing three of his ministers involved in the peace process.

Kumaratunga said she planned to give the foreign brokers fresh guidelines for facilitating negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and Tigers – a move likely to complicate the fragile process.

This week’s visit had originally been intended to arrange a face-to-face meeting between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels to break a seven-month deadlock in peace talks.

A power-sharing proposal was to form the basis for resuming discussions.

But that has now receded to the background, amid efforts to just keep the process afloat.

The island nation has been engulfed in political turmoil since Kumaratunga last week sacked the ministers of defence, police and media, suspended Parliament and briefly declared a state of emergency.

The events, which stunned Sri Lankans and raised international concerns, took place while Wickremesinghe was in Washington to meet US President George Bush.

Kumaratunga, however, has pledged that the country’s February 2002 ceasefire will hold, and that Wickremesinghe can continue the process but under her guidance.

Wickremesinghe announced yesterday that his government could not continue with the peace process without controlling all its aspects, and was ready to hand over the issue to Kumaratunga – an apparent political bluff.

During their two-day visit, the peace brokers are scheduled to meet Wickremesinghe and SP Thamilselvan, the rebel political chief.

Norway has played a pivotal role in trying to broker peace in the two-decade civil war, which has killed nearly 65,000 people. It brokered the 2002 ceasefire.

During the two-day visit, the Norwegians also will hold talks with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. Kumaratunga has accused the European monitoring team’s chief of compromising national security.

The Norwegian mediators also want to meet Kumaratunga, but her office has not yet confirmed such a meeting, officials said.