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| Sunday, 14 September 2003 |
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Akashi to persuade LTTE to resume talks by S. SELVAKUMAR The most important assignment in the busy schedule of Japanese special envoy Yashusi Akashi is at Wanni today where he will meet with LTTE political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan to persuade the LTTE Tigers to participate in peace negotiations. "I can sense that both parties are keen in resuming the talks," he told journalists during an informal chat at the Colombo Hilton on Friday afternoon, soon after the first meeting to follow up the Tokyo conference. Though he expressed disappointment that the LTTE did not participate at the follow up meeting he was optimistic that after his meeting the LTTE would come for peace talks within the next few weeks. Akashi who arrived on Thursday met with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the same day and chaired the Tokyo follow-up meeting on Friday. Later he paid a visit to Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse and also met with a delegation of the TULF. Yesterday, he was scheduled to meet Muslim leaders in Kalmunai and later was scheduled to visit Ampara before the meeting with the LTTE today. Tomorrow, Monday Minister Arumugam Thondaman will meet with Akashi to discuss the Upper Kotmale hydro electricity project, totally funded by the Japanese government. On Friday at the end of the informal chat with journalists, answering a question as to what he thought of the LTTE not complying with the ruling of the SLMM he said that it was a serious issue in his mind. Representatives of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the USA along with the EU, ADB, IMF, UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF and the World Bank were present at Friday's meeting where continuous aid was pledged but the meeting reiterated the endorsement at the Tokyo donor parley where it was declared the disbursement of the pledge aid will be linked to the success of the peace process. Ministers Professor G. L. Peiris, Milinda Moragoda and Rauff Hakeem represented the government of Sri Lanka. The Japanese peace envoy also said the second follow-up meeting will be held in Colombo next year and added that it is pointless having these meetings in Sweden or Switzerland because it is in Sri Lanka the ground situation is well identified. Meanwhile, according to diplomatic sources involved in the peace process, Thamilselvan is reported to have told a delegation that met him last week that the Interim Administration should be in place before the LTTE could participate in future negotiations. |
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