Envoy advised not to meet LTTE

Sri Lanka’s government has advised a Norwegian peace envoy against meeting with the Tamil rebel leadership as the government reviews its relationship with the insurgents, an official said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka’s government has advised a Norwegian peace envoy against meeting with the Tamil rebel leadership as the government reviews its relationship with the insurgents, an official said on Sunday.

Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer is in Sri Lanka for talks with government and rebel officials about the country’s imperiled 2002 ceasefire amid a surge of violence.

“I have told Norwegian ambassador, Hans Brattskar, and Hanssen-Bauer that all contacts with the LTTE (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)are under review by the government, and the Cabinet will decide on these issues on Wednesday,” said Palitha Kohona, chief of the Sri Lanka’s Peace Secretariat.

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Kohona declined to elaborate. However, the Cabinet is likely to take up the issue of re-imposing a ban on the rebels as punishment, after a suspected rebel suicide bomber in Colombo, tried to kill president’s brother, who is also the defence secretary.

Hanssen-Bauer has already met with some senior government officials and has been set to travel to the rebels’ northern stronghold of Kilinochchi for talks with the Tiger leadership on Monday.