Govt's agenda is for peace

Bandula Jayasekara

CELIGNY: Official spokesman for the Government delegation in Switzerland, Minister Rohitha Bogollagama says the Government's agenda during the Ceasefire talks in Switzerland would be peace.

"We are looking for a formula for peace. This conflict has affected all our people. We need to restore democratic values to our people," Minister Bogollagama said.

He said President Mahinda Rajapakse received a mandate to bring peace to Sri Lanka and he was prepared to bring peace to the country. Commenting on the talks due to be held today, the Minister said the Government and the LTTE will have many issues to talk and the Government was determined to maintain the spirit of the talks with a greater degree of respect to each other.

Responding to a question by the media, the official spokesman said even the United National Party (UNP) had realised that the Ceasefire Agreement was flawed and the UNP's top negotiator Prof. G.L. Peiris and the UNP had agreed that the agreement was flawed. "But it is the only document we have before us. Let's look at it and we should be able to move forward."

The Minister also said the Norwegians had agreed to change the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) on the request of the President and the Government of Sri Lanka. The new head of the SLMM will be from Sweden. The Government of Norway issued a statement yesterday confirming the change.

The ceasefire talks between the Government and the LTTE will begin at 8.30 a.m. (Switzerland time) at the Chateau de Bossey in Celigny, 22 km off Geneva.

The talks will commence immediately after the opening statements by Norwegian Minister for International Development Erik Solheim and Swiss Political Director of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Urs Ziswiler.

The Swiss Government has tightened security at the venue and the media are not allowed to visit the delegations during the Ceasefire talks. Swiss Foreign Ministry officials told the Daily News that it was important for the Government and the LTTE to talk freely without the media disturbing them.

However, the Government and the LTTE are expected to brief the media soon after the end of the talks on Thursday.

Sidonia Gabriel, Programme Officer, Human Security and Peace Policy of the Swiss Foreign Ministry said that both Norwegians and the Swiss requested the Government and the LTTE not to talk to the media during the talks and both the Government and the LTTE agreed to respect their request.

Swiss officials also told the Daily News that the Swiss Government would not allow the LTTE to carry out fundraising campaigns in the country.

There were several media reports that the LTTE delegation was planning to carry out fundraising campaigns in the country immediately after the Ceasefire talks.

The Swiss official said: "No. We will not allow anyone to do so. The purpose of the visit is Ceasefire talks and one must respect the laws of the country." Meanwhile, a group of Sri Lankan Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese will stage a protest today in front of the UN in Geneva demanding that the LTTE stop the recruitment of child soldiers, abductions, extortion and assassinations. The group says that LTTE must be sincere about the talks and stop killings in order to bring peace to Sri Lanka.

It is the first high level contact between the Government and the LTTE since 2003 when the LTTE pulled out of the talks. Thereafter, the country saw an escalation of ceasefire violations. The LTTE even assassinated Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at the time showing scant respect to the Ceasefire Agreement.