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| Sunday, 3 April 2005 |
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Ethnic mix in joint mechanism by Ranga Jayasuriya The Peace Secretariat which has been negotiating a joint mechanism for the post-tsunami reconstruction in the North-East has forwarded a Norwegian worded draft proposal to the Government for its final decision, a senior official of the Peace Secretariat said. He said the Peace Secretariat received a draft "worded" by the Norwegians and forwarded that to the political leadership as the text was "somewhat problematic". "Norwegians have done some wording to bridge the gap between the two parties based on the understanding emerged at the negotiations," He rejected reports that the Government had received new proposals by the LTTE, however adding that a few proposals had been moving up and down through out the negotiations. "It is not that we say 'No' to the LTTE proposals or they saying 'Yes' to our proposals". "There are both agreements and disagreements between the two parties and we are trying to iron out the differences" he said. Earlier, the two parties expressed optimism that a deal on the joint mechanism could be sealed soon, saying a consensus had been reached on a greater part of the structure. However since then differences had emerged on the wording of the agreement on the joint mechanism. The joint mechanism which will be a three tiered body at district, regional and an apex body at the national level will coordinate the post-tsunami relief and reconstruction in the North-East . The two parties had agreed on the composition of the mechanism, which will have five Tamil, three Muslim and two Sinhalese members. The official said the Peace Secretariat was expecting a decision from the Government soon. "We have to decide on this as soon as possible, because then we have to move to the implementation stage," he said. "However, there is no deadline," he added. |
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