””””COLOMBO, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Sri Lanka's leftist JVP or the People's Liberation
Front Monday reiterated its call for expulsion of Norwegian ambassador
to Colombo Jon Westborg.
””””The JVP accused Westborg of acting as an agent of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels for his role in facilitating a consignment of radio
transmission equipment for theTamil rebels.
””””The Norwegian government is currently brokering peace between the LTTE and
the government aimed at ending the country's 19-year ethnic conflict that has
claimed over 64,000 lives since 1983.
””””The two warring parties have had four rounds of direct negotiations so far.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga had joined the JVP in protesting
against Westborg's role in the radio equipment issue.
””””She made a written protest to the Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik
on Westborg role and alleged that his action was tantamount to a violation of
the Geneva convention on diplomatic privileges.
””””Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe however cautioned Kumaratunga that the
Norwegian peace facilitators should not be made to feel antagonized by her
protest on Westborg.
””””In his letter to President Kumaratunga the Norwegian Prime Minister while
ignoring the allegations that his ambassador has violated international
conventions and local laws, instead goes onto assure his country's continued
role as an impartial facilitatorin the peace process.
””””Wickremesinghe's government, which is locked in an uneasy cohabitation with
Kumaratunga as the country's executive president,has extended Westborg's term
till April. He was to have concluded his term in Colombo at the end of this
month.
””””"We urge the President (Kumaratunga) to use her executive powerto expel
Westborg forthwith," the JVP said in a statement.
””””Norwegians were invited to facilitate peace between the two sides by
Kumaratunga herself in 1999. But she began to oppose their mediation since her
party lost power in the parliamentary election to Wickremesinghe's United
National Party in December 2001.
””””Kumaratunga was elected President separately in the election held in
December 1999 and will stay in office until 2005. Enditem
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