ERIC SOLHEIM TO CONVEY THE DECISION OF THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT ON THE ILLEGAL LTTE CAMP IN KINNIYA, TRINCOMALEE
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
August 13.06.00 AM:The government of Ranil Wickremesinghe expects Norway’s special envoy Eric Solheim who has arrived in Colombo to give a verdict about the illegal military camp the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has established recently after encroaching on the territory of the Sri Lanka government in the Trincomalee District.
Describing the LTTE’s act as an unsatisfactory situation for the on going “peace process” Defense Secretary Austin Fernando recently told a broadcasting station that now it was time for the Royal Norwegian Government to take a decision since all local attempts including those of the Norway backed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission had failed to resolve the matter.
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) called the rejection of the LTTE to remove their camp from Wan Ela in Kinniya in Muttur area near the port city of Trincomalee was a serious challenge to the “peace process”.
The LTTE has officially informed the Sri Lanka government their group’s refusal to move from the newly built camp which they prefer to call, Kurankupanchchan.
Since the original refusal, the LTTE has added new conditions to their claim. LTTE political leader S. P. Thamilchelvan has said that the camp was established long years ago and even bodies had been buried in it. But critics said buried bodies could be easily introduced to it.
Investigations both by the Sri Lanka Army and the SLMM indicated that the LTTE encroached on the land about two months ago and started building the camp.
Hagrup Haukland , the acting head of the SLMM recently said of the LTTE’s refusal to move from the camp as a serious challenge to their authority. It was up to the Norway government to take the next steps, he said.
Within three days of crisis talks Eric Solheim would discuss the problem with the LTTE and Sri Lanka government leaders.
