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The warring parties in Sri Lanka have been warned not to attempt to avoid responsibility of abiding by what is already agreed in seven rounds of peace talks. The chief Norwegian peace facilitator said both the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers have failed to fully implement the agreements during earlier peace talks. Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim urged the parties to end the suffering of the civilians caught in the violence. Bring and end to civilian sufferings due to increased violence, reduce violence and bring an end to the culture of impunity for those who commit such violence and finding a lasting political solution to the national question should be the main focus of the talks, he said. “These three cannot be seen, in the opinion of the international community, in isolation they must all be addressed in some parallel way,” Minister Solheim said. Warning Making the opening remarks of the second round of Geneva talks, he warned that “no support whatsoever” within the international community for a military solution in Sri Lanka.
“Since last talks in Geneva, between one and two thousand were killed in Sri Lanka, a similar number of people killed in the war in Lebanon and there have been a lot of human right abuses,” the minister said. Human rights violations “There have been human rights violations, there have been disappearances, there have been military campaigns, and there have been terrorist killings”,he said. The ministers said the united view of the international community is that the parties should find their solution based upon the agreements reached so far, including the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed in 2002. He said the parties should abide by the agreement reached in Tokyo in 2002 as well as agreements reached in February this year, in Geneva. The Tamil Tigers agreed for a federal model of devolution at the talks held in Tokyo. The Rajapaksa government agreed to abide by the CFA and both parties agreed to curb violence against each other in first round of Geneva talks. But nearly 2000 have been killed and according to the United Nations, over 200,000 displaced since then due to increased violence. Minister Solheim said the international players are ‘running out of patience’. The parties must realise, he said, that there are many other conflicts in the world where international leaders are involved, not only in Sri Lanka. If peace achieved, Sri Lanka has a huge potential of developing into a regional economic power, according to the Norwegian minister. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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India's frustration with Sri Lanka over Tamils