<b>LTTE move to bypass Norway</b>

The Sunday Times - Our Political Editor

The LTTE has sounded the Government on the possibility of conducting further dialogue on the ongoing peace process on a bilateral basis, leaving out Norway, which is now playing the role of a facilitator.

The Sunday Times learns that a message in this regard had been conveyed by the LTTE to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, days before he undertook his four-day official tour of the United States. He returned to Sri Lanka yesterday.

Highly placed UNF sources say Premier Wickremesinghe has not responded to the message so far. They say he has continued to support the Norwegian facilitation and there was no shift in the Government policy in this regard.

According to these sources, it is not immediately clear why the LTTE had suddenly wanted to drop using Norwegian facilitation though it was known there was a "pause" in their relations recently. The "pause" had come when Norwegian facilitators found it difficult to get in touch with LTTE Chief Negotiator Anton Balasingham, though he was said to be in London.

However, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesson and negotiator Erik Solheim met Dr. Balasingham thereafter on July 15 to discuss peace talks in Thailand. This meeting did not result in any dates being fixed for these talks.

-The Sunday Times -