International
A measure to 'invigorate' the peace process
By Nirupama Subramanian
COLOMBO, JAN. 2. Sri Lanka today announced a decision to lift restrictions on supply of a large number of goods to the areas controlled by the LTTE. A Defence Ministry press release said ``all categories of goods (with the exception of 10 items), will be permitted access into (the Vanni) area with effect from January 15, 2002''.
This step was being taken ``with a view to uplifting the quality of life for the people of the Vanni area, and thereby bringing about an atmosphere conducive to invigorating the peace process in a spirit of goodwill and understanding...''
Of the 10 excluded items, the supply of four - diesel, petrol, cement and iron rods - will be restricted, while that of the rest will be banned. Military permission will be required to transport these items across the lines.
The banned items are: unlicensed arms and ammunition, unlicensed explosives, remote-controlled devices, barbed wire, binoculars and telescopes, and penlight batteries.
The 10 items figured also in a list of 21 items that Sri Lanka had banned for the LTTE areas in November 1994. Under the new rules, the remaining 11 items can now be taken freely. These include motor vehicle spare parts, urea fertilizer, camphor, oxygen welding equipment and fabric similar to that used for military uniforms.
Government and security force officials in Vavuniya, where the main crossing point between the two sides is located, are now considering proposals to increase the supply of food items into the LTTE-held areas.
So far, the Government has been sending in 23 trucks of food on three days of the week. The proposal is to increase this to 30 trucks on four days of the week.
The crossing point is located at Pirmanalankulam on the Vavuniya-Mannar road, and is at present, open for civilians twice a week, and for food trucks thrice a week.
Military officials said they were examining the feasibility of allowing civilian traffic through this checkpoint on three days of the week and food convoys on four days.
LTTE request to Oslo
The LTTE leader, Mr. Velupillai Prabhakaran, has written to the Norwegian Prime Minister requesting Oslo to continue its facilitatory role in the Sri Lankan peace process. ``I am writing this letter to you to seek your Government's continuous engagement as the facilitator to help to find a stable peace and a permanent solution to the ethnic conflict,'' Mr. Prabhakaran has said in the letter made public by the LTTE today.
A press release from the LTTE said that the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Ivar Helegelsen, accompanied by Mr. Erik Solheim, the chief facilitator appointed by Oslo till he fell from grace with the previous Sri Lankan government, and a foreign ministry official would visit London on Friday to meet the LTTE representative, Mr. Anton Balasingham.The letter from the LTTE to Mr. Bondevik, dated January 1, follows a letter from the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, to his Norwegian counterpart, making the same request.
Norway's condition that it must be asked by both sides before it can resume its role as facilitator, has now been met.
The LTTE has also sought to dispel speculation that it was unhappy with Oslo after it agreed to the previous government's request to sideline Mr. Solheim without consulting it.
In the letter, Mr. Prabhakaran commends Norway for the ``impartiality and objective neutrality'' it had shown in the two-and-a-half years of attempting to bring the LTTE and the government for face-to-face talks.
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