Norway's foreign minister yesterday was in the capital of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels to resolve disputes between the government and the insurgents over the distribution of tsunami aid.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen is also hoping to kick-start stalled peace talks between the guerrillas and the government in Colombo to avert a return to the 19-year civil war that left 65,000 people dead.
A Tamil relief organization has charged that the government was holding up container-loads of medical supplies bound for the northern and eastern areas under rebel control. The government said it was following routine procedures in the distribution of aid.
At issue was whether the rebels could receive aid directly from overseas donors, underscoring their demand for independence from the Colombo government, or whether the government should centralize the aid disbursement which it says is necessary for fairness.
"We are not happy with the equal distribution of aid," said Anton Balasingham, the chief Tiger peace negotiator who flew from his home in London to attend what he called "a very crucial meeting" with the Norwegians.
The government has said it was bending over backward to give the rebel zones their fair share.
Petersen's arrival in Kilinochchi was delayed a few hours because bad weather forced his helicopter to land midway from Colombo and he had to complete the journey by car.
There was tight security in the rebel town and journalists were barred from the area where the minister was scheduled to meet Tigers commander Velupillai Prabhakaran. Rebel spokesman Daya Master said the meeting had started, but gave no other details.
International aid workers have said they are satisfied with the relief cooperation by the Tigers and the government, and all refugees are being adequately fed and cared for.
The crowded unsanitary refugee centers set up immediately after the disaster have been dismantled and the refugees moved to more manageable camps. Those, too, will disappear in the next few weeks, replaced by temporary thatched shelters housing individual families, said Penny Brune, the Kilinochchi director of the UN children's agency UNICEF.
The coordination "has gone extremely well," she said in an interview.
At least 31,000 Sri Lankans on both sides were killed, with some estimates ranging beyond 38,000. About 1 million were displaced.
While the focus was on relief efforts, Balasingham said the Norwegians also intended "to explore the feasibility of resuming the negotiation process" that broke down in April 2003.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam fought the Sri Lankan army to a standstill between 1983 and 2002. The Norwegians brokered a truce which has largely held, but it looked increasingly fragile in the weeks before the tsunami equally devastated both sides.
Joining the talks was Norwegian special peace negotiator Eric Solheim.
Hopes were raised of cashing in on the collaboration in aid relief to build enough confidence to resume political discussions on ending the ethnic dispute, which is centered on Tamil accusations of systematic discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.
But troubles soon cropped up. Rebels and army soldiers occasionally scuffled over the distribution of aid in the tsunami refugee centers, especially in the east where the lines of control are less clear than in Tiger-controlled areas in the north.
Each side accused the other of obstructing deliveries in the conflict zone.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number