ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role played by Norway in facilitating direct negotiations between the two main parties. The commencement of direct negotiations in September 2002 between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) can be considered a vital component in the peace process in Sri Lanka. The chapter focuses on the peace process during the Wickremesinghe administration and examines the peace process during the Kumaratunga and Rajapaksa administrations. It examines the several rounds of negotiations that took place in order to understand the processes and procedures adopted and implemented by Norway to ensure the smooth progress of direct negotiations. The chapter also examines the measures adopted by Norway to overcome the three-year hiatus in the negotiations and the intervening incidents that had a bearing on the overall peace process. It shows that Norwegian involvement contained serious flaws in the way in which it understood the conflict.
