Opening address by Erik Solheim, Minister of International Development.

Dear friends, Mr de Silva, Mr Tamiselvan, all other friends here.

Let me first start by thanking our Swiss host for hosting these talks in Geneva. It is no coincidence that the parties wanted the talks to take place in the city of Geneva. It is without doubt one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It’s a very calm place. It’s one of the most international places on the globe. And it’s also a vote of confidence in Switzerland as being one of the countries that has been fully supportive of the peace process from day one, and indeed has gone out of its way to be supportive to the government of Sri Lanka and to the LTTE in doing this very difficult endeavour of the peace process. I would also like to thank you, Heidi Tagliavini, personally, knowing that you are just coming back from one of the other intractable conflict spots of the world, Georgia, where you for four years have played an absolutely crucial role on behalf of the United Nations and the international community in trying to find a resolution to that conflict. Your experience would be most welcome by everyone here, if you have some advice to give on Sri Lanka as well.

Then, of course, I would like to thank the two delegations. You are most welcome to Geneva, and this session of talks. We are very happy to see you here. I know that it has been a difficult decision within the government and within the LTTE to come for these talks.

You were in Geneva nine months ago, in February this year. You made a lot of vital agreements during these talks. As we all know, unfortunately some of these agreements have not been put into place. And that is also why we have seen a very dangerous escalation of violence in Sri Lanka since these talks. I will not spend a lot of time repeating what you know much better than we do, and which is really the suffering of Sri Lankans of all communities, but since last talks in Geneva, according to UN estimates 200 000 people have been internally displaced in Sri Lanka, adding to those who were displaced before that. Between 1000 and 2000 people have been killed, which is a similar number of the number of people killed in Lebanon. There have been extensive human rights abuses. There have been disappearances. There have been military campaigns. And there have been terrorist killings. We have had all these different sorts of violence.

The aim of these talks is to find ways to reduce and put a stop to violence; then, to move on to political discussions, which are crucial for solving the conflict.

As you know, Norway as the facilitator is working very closely with the international community at large, and there is no way of hiding that the international community is deeply concerned in what has been going on and with the absence of dialogue between the two parties. There is a broad, strong feeling in the international community that even in the most difficult times – especially in the most difficult times – there is a need for dialogue. Therefore, there is a strong support of your coming to the table today. To put it simple, there is no support in any circle in the world for continued war in Sri Lanka. No actors support that. All think this war is not winnable. It simply prolongs the suffering of all communities of Sri Lanka.

The international community can only give modest advice. It’s for the government and the LTTE to find the road to peace in Sri Lanka. There are three issues, which the international community believe should be addressed during talks. These three cannot be seen separately; they must all be addressed simultaneously.

1. The humanitarian suffering in Sri Lanka. There must be a relief to all those who are suffering from displacement, war, killings, and simply a return to normalcy for all communities.
2. Military de-escalation. The culture of impunity when people are killed must be stopped. There must be put at stop to all sorts of violence, being it terrorist attacks, military campaigns or human rights abuses of all sorts.
3. Political. There is no way the peace process can move forward for some time, without addressing the underlying political problems in Sri Lanka.

The only way to peace in Sri Lanka is to address all three of them.

These consultations in Geneva bring a small ray of hope to Sri Lankans. We have received so many letters, telephone calls and e-mails from Sri Lankans, of all main communities, being it Muslims, Tamils or Singhalese, expressing hope that this will be a step in the right direction towards some political settlement to the conflict. But the responsibility for finding the ways, cutting through all the intricacies, rests with the two delegations and with your leadership. The international community can give assistance, it can go with you, it can provide political advice, money or whatever that would be of any use to you, but at the end of the day the political decisions will be made by the leadership of the government side and the LTTE side.

I also think it’s useful at this stage to bring to the attention of everyone the four, broad principles, which I think the international community has agreed to when it comes to what should be the basis of the solution in Sri Lanka.

1. Any solution should be based on what has been agreed on so far, which is what was achieved in the six sessions of talks in 2002-2003 and what was agreed in Geneva I.
2. Any solution should be based on the Cease Fire Agreement, which should be upheld by both parties to the letter.
3. The legitimate aspirations by Tamils and all communities in Sri Lanka should be addressed as part of the solution, in accordance with the principles agreed in Oslo in 2002.
4. Any solution should be within the unity and sovereignty of one Sri Lankan state.

These are the four, broad principles, on which I think there is a global agreement. Then it’s for you, within this framework, to find the solution.

Also, I think there is a call from the international community to restore the very important role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). It cannot fulfil its responsibilities unless it is given freedom of movement and access to the conflict areas. The mandate of SLMM is not given by anybody else; it is given by the government and the LTTE. On that basis, perhaps the parties later will discuss how the mission can be improved.

Let me be a little personal at the end. I have been involved in the Sri Lankan peace effort for eight years now. It is a big part of the life of a human being. Norway has been the agreed facilitator in Sri Lanka for nearly seven years. For a small country such as Norway, that also is a long period of time. We have shown a lot of patience. We will continue to be patient. We will walk with the parties for as long as they wish our support.

The people of Sri Lanka, however, I believe is very impatient. And there is also impatience in the international community, because, as you well know, Sri Lanka is just one of many conflicts. Political leaders of the world tend to focus on one or two of them at the time. Time has now come where you have the opportunity to get the attention of political leaders all over the world. The only way to get their attention is to move forward. They will support you and you will be able to realize the potential of Sri Lanka. I see very few countries in the world with such a potential. Sri Lanka is situated in a region that is now growing at a rapid speed. East-Asia took the lead in bringing people out of poverty. Now South-Asia is coming at more or less the same speed. Southern parts of India is one of the real success stories of the world. Sri Lanka has the potential to take part in the south Asian economic success story, which would bring everyone – being Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim – out of poverty. But, of course, there must be peace.

Again, most welcome. We are looking forward to what we hope will be two fruitful days.

LTTE delegation leader Tamiselvan shakes hands with government of Sri Lanka delegation leader Nimal Siripala de Silva at the opening of the consultations. Left: Minister of International Development Erik Solheim. In the middle: Norway's special envoy to the peace process in Sri Lanka Jon Hanssen-Bauer.