Sri Lanka more important for Solheim than climate, environment

Sri Lanka more important for Solheim than climate, environment

August 29, 2009  11:40 am

Norway’s International Development Minister -- and a prominent peace broker between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- Erik Solheim, is to take up the recent Channel 4 video footage with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a Norwegian newspaper has reported.

The Channel 4, while clear itself by stating that it is not sure of the authenticity of the video footage, said it was submitted by a group calling itself ‘Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka’.

“This is something I will discuss with Ban Ki-moon when he comes on Sunday (Aug. 30),” the Aftenposten.no has quoted Mr. Solheim as saying on August 27. “It’s something I definitely want to do, even if the purpose of his trip is about climate and environment,” said Solheim.

The recording should have been taken by a soldier in January, and was smuggled out of Sri Lanka this week by a group of human rights activists who have recently fled the country, the news report suggests.

Sri Lankan government authorities have denied that troops were involved in war crimes, and say that the recording may be a fake.

But Erik Solheim has reportedly said that he would not be surprised if the footage is genuine. At the same time he says that he would demand that the UN investigate what happened in the last phase of the bloody war in Sri Lanka, a conflict that is believed to have claimed at least 80,000 lives.

“The United Nations must address in the investigation of possible war crimes in Sri Lanka,” has said.

This makes it very difficult for the UN to find out how it can be investigated. In addition, there has been no great feel for such an investigation by the Security Council. But each new evidence such as this video, reinforces the requirement for a proper investigation,” Solheim has said, while adding “It may have happened when the Sri Lankan military began using guerilla tactics against the Tamil Tigers.”

However, he admits that Norway, despite its role as a former peace facilitator in the island, does not have much clout to demand that the UN carry out a probe.

“It is therefore important that the larger and more powerful nations, especially the United States and China, take action regarding this,” Mr. Solheim has stated.

Government deeply regrets Erik Solheim's comments on SL

The Government of Sri Lanka refers to the comments made by the Minister of Environment & International Development of the Norwegian Government, Erik Solheim, published in the 'Aftenposten' newspaper website of 28 August 2009, a news release from the Foreign Ministry said today.

"The Sri Lanka government deeply regrets the baseless comments contained therein and is perturbed by such statements being made by the Norwegian Minister against a friendly government.

It is unbecoming of Minister Solheim to attribute blame on alleged atrocities, contained in an unsubstantiated video footage, without any recourse to an exchange of views and total disregard to the position of the Government of Sri Lanka on the issues in question.

The criticism by him of a democratically elected Head of State, who is carrying out a vibrant agenda to safeguard the rights of the people of Sri Lanka, while having eliminated the scourge of terrorism, is unacceptable. It would be recalled that Norway continued its facilitatory role in the then peace process, even after the election of His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapakse. The utterances of Minister Solheim have led the Government of Sri Lanka to reflect on his possible partisanship in the facilitatory role.

The Government of Sri Lanka hopes that a formal response would be received from the Norwegian Government with regard to the attributed comments by a Minister of that Government".