Remarks Following Meeting With Norwegian Minister and Special Envoy Eric Solheim

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.  I just want to say very briefly that the United States government fully supports the efforts of the Monitoring Mission, including the efforts of the Norwegian government and Minister Solheim to help bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Sri Lanka.  We very much support an end to the violence and a return to negotiations, and the maintenance and building up of the Ceasefire Agreement.  We think it’s imperative that every step be taken by the Sri Lankan government and other parties to the conflict to show support to the Tamil community, for the needs of the Tamil community, and respect for the rights of the Tamil community.

And it’s certainly very important for the LTTE to end its violence, -- there was another bomb attack this morning, which is reprehensible -- to stop all violence so that negotiations may begin and peace may return to Sri Lanka. That has the support of my government, and we are very pleased to work in support of that with Minister Solheim and his government in Norway.