21 December 2022 09:24 am Views - 559
By Easwaran Rutnam
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.
Speaking to Daily Mirror last evening, Solheim said that his discussions have been 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, who is 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.
Solheim had tweeted this week saying he discussed opportunities for Sri Lanka in the renewable revolution during his meeting with Premadasa. He said they also discussed protecting the beautiful nature helped by carbon credits.
Solheim said that Premadasa will make the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) a vehicle for green development. The former Norwegian peace mediator also 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 both economic and ethnic issue 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.