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| Sunday, 09 March 2003 |
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Meets Prabhakaran in Vanni : LTTE doing best to discipline armed cadres - SLMM Chief by Ananth Palakidnar Major General Tryggve Tellefsen who took over duties as the new chief of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is a veteran in ceasefire monitoring who served as a peace force commander in Yugoslavia at the helm of the clashes between Macedonia and Serbia and has trained the Norwegian armed forces for ceasefire monitoring operations missions.In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer he says that cooperation obtained from the warring factions in Sri Lanka towards implementing the ceasefire so far is remarkable and stresses that every effort should be made to create peace and harmony among all races. He assures he will dispense his duties round the clock to see the ceasefire is effective. Major General Tryggve Tellefsen who took over duties as the new chief of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is a veteran in ceasefire monitoring who served as a peace force commander in Yugoslavia at the helm of the clashes between Macedonia and Serbia and has trained the Norwegian armed forces for ceasefire monitoring operations missions. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer he says that cooperation obtained from the warring factions in Sri Lanka towards implementing the ceasefire so far is remarkable and stresses that every effort should be made to create peace and harmony among all races. He assures he will dispense his duties round the clock to see the ceasefire is effective. Excerpts of the interview:- How do you see yourself as the new Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission chief? It is a pleasure. First of all I must congratulate and appreciate the people of Sri lanka for supporting the successful implementation of the ceasefire for the past one year. It shows that the people of this country are very much in favour of a negotiated settlement of the ethnic crisis. I accepted the leadership of the SLMM when it was offered to me by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway on December 24, 2002. The SLMM is the very institution created with the willingness of the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. So I am now here to serve your people and I consider it a unique opportunity. Therefore as the new chief of the SLMM I will do my best in executing my duties. What is your assessment of the functions of the SLMM and its missions during the past years? SLMM is an independent organisation, entirely created to monitor the ceasefire in Sri Lanka. It is not under UN or any other organisation. For the past one year the SLMM has played a very vital role in implementing the ceasefire and I salute my predecessor General Trond Furuhovde for his tireless efforts to see to the successful operations of the SLMM. I believe that the releasing of a soldier and a police constable from LTTE custody is something significant and I see it as a feather in his cap, just prior to his departure. Last week you met LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran in Vanni. What was the outcome of the meeting and what is your impression of the LTTE chief towards the peace process? It was constructive. I got the impression that he is more towards the peace process.During the talks with him and other LTTE stalwarts such as Dr. Anton Balasingham and S.P. Thamilchelvan I realised that they have done their best to maintain the discipline of their armed cadres and to have more interaction with the SLMM. What I could understand is that they are now happy with no more bombings or other type of attacks in the North and the East and they want this situation to last. Have you handled any ceasefire monitoring missions in the past ? Yes, of course I have served in the Sinai deserts of the Middle East and also in Yugoslavia as the peace force commander to tackle the crisis between Macedonia and Serbia. I also trained the Norwegian armed forces for the ceasefire monitoring operations. Could you explain the present formation of the SLMM and the powers vested in it. Do you have any new plans or strategies to be annexed to the existing set up? At the moment we have 47 members attached to the SLMM from Norway and from other Scandinavian countries. We may need some more people. The SLMM officials work for a period ranging from one to one and a half years.We also have two naval monitoring offices, one is based in Jaffna and the other is in Trincomalee. The Naval monitors join the navy while they go on sea patrol and accompany the sea Tigers when they make their transportation via seas. I will have further meetings with both sides and decide on what needs to be added to strengthen the monitoring mission. Despite the successful implementation of the ceasefire for the past one year there were quite a number of ceasefire violations reported. How are you going to deal with this situation in the future? We have noticed that there were violations of the ceasefire in the past. In future, efforts will be taken to have more coordination between both sides and we will encourage them to bring their problems to the table instead of trying to make things worse. We believe that by bringing the issue to the table we could easily sort them out. So far we have received good cooperation with regard to solving the problems. And in future we will encourage them to sit and sort out things. There were incidents where the LTTE and the armed forces were making arrests and detention of each other, how do you see this problem? Well, the armed forces and the LTTE have to clearly define the areas which are in their control and by doing this, unnecessary problems of one side creeping into the other side can be prevented. You have also met the officials of the Defence Ministry and the armed forces, what was the outcome of the meeting? It was a formal discussion. I met the Defence Minister, his Secretary, Chiefs of the armed forces and the Director of the Peace Secretariat. The meeting was encouraging. I hope to have more cooperation with them and I will meet again the senior armed forces officials with regard to the functions of the SLMM. Any words of advice to you from your predecessor Major General Trond Furuhovde? 'Good luck!' In fact he had laboured day and night for the success of the SLMM. He also handled several difficult issues and succeeded in solving them without allowing room for any major crisis. We gave him an emotional send off. He will continue to function as an advisor on SLMM issues and on the peace process at large in Oslo. Could You please tell us your career background in the Norwegian army and also about your family ? I joined the Royal Norwegian Army at the age of 17 in 1959 and served in it for a period of 42 years. I was promoted as a Major General in 1997. I retired from the army in 2001 after serving in all hardy terrain in Norway. I am now 62 years of age. My wife is Edel. We have a daughter and she is a medical doctor. She will be getting married to another doctor in August this year. |
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