Colombo, Nov 11: Two Norwegian peace brokers met today with European monitors overseeing Sri Lanka's cease-fire with Tamil rebels, while a bitter political struggle between the country's President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe continues. Vidar Helgesen, Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister, and special envoy Erik Solheim met with the Sri Lanka monitoring mission after arriving in Colombo late yesterday, said Tomas Stangeland, a spokesman for the Norwegian Embassy. ``I am not authorised to say what was discussed, but the meeting went on well,'' Stangeland said.
Norway brokered the February, 2002 cease-fire with the Tamil Tigers. That halted 19 years of war and led to six rounds of peace talks. But the rebels walked out of the talks in April, saying they needed broader administrative powers in Tamil-majority areas.

Face-to-face talks were to start after the rebels submitted their self-government proposal on October 31.
The Norwegians also were scheduled to meet with officials from both the president's and the Prime Minister's parties, Stangeland said.


Bureau Report