Norwegian Minister and peace envoy Erik Solheim yesterday downplayed high expectations of a breakthrough in the peace process when he visits Sri Lanka later this week, despite being the saviour when he visited the country under similar circumstances last December.

Mr. Solheim’s media officer Espen Gullikstad told the Daily Mirror that the Minister did not wish to comment on his upcoming visit but stressed he did not expect a major breakthrough.

Minister Solheim and special peace envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer will visit the country this week for meetings with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and LTTE political head S.P. Thamilselvan.

Minister Solheim who met LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran in December resulting in the rebels agreeing to attend the first round of talks in Geneva, is not scheduled to meet the rebel leader during this week’s visit.With the Oslo team making the urgent visit, Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar met Mr. Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi yesterday to discuss the modalities for the visit.

Mr. Brattskar, who toured the Jaffna peninsula on Monday, expressed concern over the high level of violence in the Northeast during April and May. Meanwhile Mr. Hannsen Bauer told a foreign television station on Monday that the progress of the peace process in Sri Lanka would depend on how the two parties saw a possible EU ban on the LTTE.

A group of Buddhist and Catholic clergy from the South meanwhile met Mr. Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi in two separate meetings yesterday to discuss the deteriorating security situation in the country.

The clergy told the media after the meeting that they would announce the outcome of the meetings to the people in the South once they returned Colombo.

By Courtesy Daily Mirror

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