Norway stops military sales to Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, APRIL 1. Norway has stopped military sales to Sri Lanka after Oslo's involvement as a third party facilitator to broker peace in the island became public, reports said here today.

Norwegian suppliers have stopped their sales through local agents to the Sri Lankan military, The Sunday Times said adding that the move was giving an advantage to separatist Tamil Tigers.

The report came as Norway expressed optimism towards brokering peace talks between the Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after nearly two years of efforts.

The State radio reported here today that there were prospects of early talks and underlined the need to involve the main Opposition, the United National Party (UNP), in possible talks.

Officials sources said that there were indications that the two sides could move towards a preliminary round of talks in about a month. However, Norway's reported refusal to sell weapons to the military could be a sticky point for the Government which is battling Sinhalese hard-line Opposition to involving Norway in the peace process. Hard-line groups have accused Oslo of supporting the Tamil Tigers and the suspension of military sales to the Sri Lankan security forces could only harden nationalist Sinhala opinion, officials said.

``Local companies say the Norwegian Government has halted exports to the (Sri Lankan) military,'' the newspaper said. ``This is on grounds that they are playing the role of facilitator.''

``At least in this instance, there is no doubt they have facilitated to the LTTE's advantage by depriving the military of what they need. Good honest brokering indeed.'' There was no reaction from the Norwegian embassy to the report.

Norway was asked by President Kumaratunga in 1998 to help bring the Tamil Tigers to the table. However, a direct face- to-face meeting of the two sides is yet to take place.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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