Norway to send envoy to Sri Lanka truce talks

Peace broker Norway said it would send a special envoy to Sri Lanka to help save a troubled ceasefire after admitting it had failed to secure agreement about a venue for planned talks.









Peace broker Norway said it would send a special envoy to Sri Lanka to help save a troubled ceasefire after admitting it had failed to secure agreement about a venue for planned talks. The Norwegian government in a statement said it was "deeply concerned" by the continuing violence in the island-nation despite a truce that has been in place since February 2002.

"As facilitator, the Royal Norwegian Government has sought for the past three weeks to convene a meeting between the parties, at their request, to discuss implementation of the ceasefire agreement," it said on Friday.

"We regret to conclude that the parties have not reached agreement on the venue for such a meeting at this juncture.

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The statement said the former head of the Scandinavian truce monitoring committee in Sri Lanka, retired Norwegian army general Trond Furuhovde, will be sent back to the South Asian nation within a month for talks with both sides.

"Furuhovde will consult with both parties on the security situation an