SRI LANKA: Sinn Féin is willing to play a continuing role in the revival of the peace process in Sri Lanka, according to the party's chief negotiator. Martin McGuinness was speaking after his return from a visit to Colombo at the invitation of the Sri Lanka-based conciliation group, Impact.
During his four-day visit, Mr McGuinness had a three-hour working dinner with President Mahinda Rajapakse and members of his cabinet where they compared notes on the situation in Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka. They had already met in Belfast early last year. Mr Rajapakse was prime minister at the time and was elected president last November.
The Mid-Ulster MP was accompanied last week by Aidan McAteer, another member of the negotiating team. A ceasefire between government forces and the rebel Tamil Tigers is disintegrating and some 150 troops and civilians have been killed since December.
"There was a ceasefire there for some time which appeared to be breaking down, so we couldn't very well refuse [the invitation]," Mr McGuinness said. "We said we would go on the basis that we would meet with everybody, the government and representatives of the Tamil Tigers."
An official from the president's office told the AFP news agency: "There is a lot we can learn from his experience."
At Mr Rajapakse's request, Mr McGuinness had a further three-hour meeting involving "very detailed discussions" with foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera and four or five cabinet members. He told them how the Irish peace process had "transformed both the political and the military situation".
"I gave them my view that there could be no military victory in Sri Lanka," he said.
"There has been a very bitter war fought there for some 20 years, 60,000 people have lost their lives. It is absolutely unbelievable that, by this stage, people wouldn't recognise the importance of engaging in meaningful negotiations."
He also met representatives of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) who reflect the views of the Tamil Tigers in the Sri Lankan parliament.
The TNA told him they felt the benefits of the Sri Lanka ceasefire had mainly gone to the Sinhalese in the south and that the Tamil population had not received any benefits, with no new roads or hospitals and "no appreciable improvement in people's living standards".
Meanwhile, Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim announced yesterday that agreement had been reached for the two sides in the Sri Lanka conflict to meet in Geneva by mid-February. This will be their first meeting since April 2003.