● Says no room for foreigners in all-party talks
● Talks held with Ranil, Sajith, TNA, SLMC and Mano
December 21, 2022 – Colombo: Former Norwegian peace negotiator Erik Solheim has ruled out playing the role of mediator between Tamil political parties and the Government to push for a political solution for the national issue. Solheim had talks with Tamil political parties and others, including Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, in Colombo this week.
Solheim said his discussions focused on environment-related issues. There have been calls for Solheim to put back his mediator cap and broker a political solution for the Tamils. However, Solheim, President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s International Climate Advisor, said that he has no mandate to discuss anything other than issues related to the climate and the environment. He also said that he doesn’t think there is any role for foreigners in the all-party talks initiated by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. During his meeting with Premadasa, Solheim tweeted this week saying he discussed opportunities for Sri Lanka in the renewable revolution. He said they also discussed protecting beautiful nature, helped by carbon credits. Solheim noted that Premadasa would make the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) a vehicle for green development.
The former Norwegian peace mediator met Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan and MP M.A. Sumanthiran. “Sampanthan told me that time has come for Sri Lanka to find a solution to economic and ethnic issues and that he will go all out to secure that,” Solheim said. Solheim also had talks with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem and Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) Leader Mano Ganesan in Colombo over the past couple of days.
