Norway to evaluate unsuccessful Lankan ceasefire
September 24, 2010 07:40 am
Norway is to evaluate the ceasefire it brokered between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil rebels in 2002, a Norwegian embassy spokesman in Colombo said Thursday.
The deal fell apart when government troops took up arms again in 2008, and went on to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May of the following year.
An internati+onal team of European and Sri Lankan experts was to look into the 12 years of Norwegian involvement in the 26-year conflict, the spokesman said under condition of anonymity.
‘The evaluation will help Norway, which continues to assist Sri Lanka in development activities,’ he said.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has previously blamed the Norwegian-backed ceasefire for favouring the rebels and allowing them to rearm, prolonging the conflict.
Rajapaksa on Tuesday requested development assistance during bilateral talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Stoltenberg on Wednesday said that Norway was ‘eager to play a supporting role in the emerging situation in Sri Lanka,’ according to a statement released by Colombo, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports.
