
Helgesen meets Tamilselvan
Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Norway's Deputy Foreign minister, Mr.Eric Solheim, the special envoy and Mr. Hans Brattskar, the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka arrived in Kilinochchi today, 18th September by an SLAF helicopter in the morning.
This high-powered Norwegian team met with Mr. S.P. Tamilselvan, Head of the Political Wing of the LTTE in its Peace Secretariat. Mr. Helgesen's agenda for this meeting was wide ranging. Upholding of the Cease Fire Agreement, minimising violations and the current political situation vis-à-vis LTTE's interim administration proposals featured mainly in the discussion. 
The special envoy Mr.Eric Solheim, Norway's Deputy Foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgesen and the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar. Responding to the Norwegian team's concerns Mr. Tamilselvan referred to the lengthy discussion he had with the head of the SLMM on 16th September on matters pertaining to the Cease Fire Agreement, Violations and Reactivation of the District Committees with a view expand the scope of the SLMM activities. The necessities to react to ground realities with the help of a process of dialogue, Mr. Tamilselvan said, have been agreed upon with the SLMM. Relating to the time frame of the submission of the interim administration proposals to the Government, he said that the draft proposals, once finalised by the leadership, would be given over to the facilitators in mid October for transmission to the GOSL.
When Mr. Helgesen asked for Mr. Tamilselvan's view of the proposals and its acceptability by the Government, the Head of the Political Wing said that the LTTE has formulated the draft proposals in a meticulous manner taking into consideration the pitfalls previous attempts to bring about an interim administration faced and therefore hopeful that the Government will have no difficulty in accepting it. He also said that the intended interim administration is the only mechanism that can help to, primarily alleviating the hardships caused by the war and create a state of normalcy in the day-to-day life of the Tamil people as enunciated in the CFA, demonstrate the political will for a corruption free administration and make the people active participants in the peace process. At the end of the meeting Mr. Vidar Helgesen and Mr. Tamilselvan met the media men and briefed them on what was discussed. The Norwegian team also visited the TRO Head Quarters in Kilinochchi and had discussions on the on-going projects and expressed satisfactions on the progress.
18 September 2003
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