Sri Lanka urged to keep promises

By John Sudworth
BBC News, Colombo

Mr Solheim says both sides did not implement their commitments

The Norwegian minister Erik Solheim has urged the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to implement the promises made during talks in Geneva last month.

On Wednesday, Norway's newly-appointed special peace envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, conveyed the same message to the Tamil Tigers rebels at a meeting.

Mr Solheim recently stepped down as the peace envoy in Sri Lanka, a job now taken on by Mr Hanssen-Bauer.

The two sides are due to hold further talks in Geneva later this month.

Violence

Although Mr Solheim is not involved in day-to-day peace work in the country he is still involved in the peace process.

Despite a ceasefire fighting has flared up again

After his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse, he said both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) had to keep the commitments they made during the Geneva peace negotiations.

"There can be no doubt that promises given in the first session in Geneva is not properly implemented," he said.

"We strongly urge both the government of Sri Lanka and LTTE to do whatever is in their hands to stick to the letter of what was agreed in Geneva and simply start implementing these promises."

Mr Solheim said armed groups hostile to the Tamil Tigers were still being allowed to operate in government-controlled areas.

But the Tamil Tigers were also engaged in acts of violence, he said, blaming them for a recent suicide bombing in which eight sailors were lost at sea.

Following Mr Hanssen-Bauer's meeting with the LTTE, the Norwegian team said it was confident both sides would attend the next round of Geneva talks in two weeks' time.