A Norwegian peace team arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday for talks with the government on ending almost 20 years of war with Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east. The Norwegians, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen, were expected to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando on Thursday in an effort to push the two sides to the negotiating table.
"They have arrived but that is all we can say right now," said one diplomat.
The latest move comes after heightened hopes since the election of a new government last month that peace talks to end nearly two decades of ethnic war could happen soon, with a truce already in place.
The arrival of the team from Norway -- which has been asked by both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to act as a facilitator -- follows Helgesen's talks in London last week with Anton Balasingham, the spokesman and chief negotiator for the LTTE. Bureau Report