January 4, 2003	Saturday	Shawwal 30, 1423

COLOMBO, Jan 3: Sri Lanka’s prime minister delivered his first public rebuke to President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Friday, warning her not to antagonize peace-broker Norway, in a fresh crisis for the island’s cohabitation government.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his first public warning to Kumaratunga since he defeated his arch-rival’s party in Dec 2001 elections, advised the president against taking issue with Norway, which is spearheading peace moves with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

“I must urge a note of caution in your intended intervention with the Prime Minister of Norway,” the Sri Lankan premier told his arch-rival, referring to her formal protest against Norway’s top envoy here, Jon Westborg.

Kumaratunga lodged the protest against the envoy in a four-page letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Kijell Magne Bondevik.

Westborg was accused of violating Sri Lanka’s customs regulations and diplomatic norms by being the “consignee” for radio transmitting equipment ordered by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in October.

Kumaratunga’s scathing letter came despite Wickremesinghe’s government clearing Westborg and the Norwegian embassy here of any wrongdoing.

Wickremesinghe paid tribute to Westborg, saying Oslo would continue to use his expertise in the Tamil peace process although he was due to end his assignment in Sri Lanka, with a successor named two months ago.

“Undoubtedly the government of Norway will continue to utilise his (Westborg’s) expertise,” Wickremesinghe said in a five-page letter to Kumaratunga released to local media.

“I think, therefore, as a government we should exercise due care, at this critical stage in the peace process, to ensure that the enthusiasm of the Norwegian facilitation and the momentum thus far generated continues undiminished.”

There was no immediate reaction from President Kumaratunga’s office.

Kumaratunga had initially invited Oslo to be a peace broker with Tamil Tiger rebels in 1999, but began opposing the handling of the peace process after her party lost parliamentary elections.

“During that time (when she was in control of parliament) the Norwegian team of facilitators worked dedicatedly and untiringly to achieve the objectives I and my government set out for them,” Kumaratunga said in her complaint to the Norwegian Premier.

“However, I have cause for concern about several recent actions of the Norwegian team... I shall decide on the course of action that the government of Sri Lanka should follow, after discussion with the prime minister and other relevant authorities,” she said.

A Marxist party which propped up her government for a brief period in 2001 had asked Kumaratunga to expel Westborg, who has been in Sri Lanka for more than five years and is a key figure in Oslo’s attempts to broker peace here.

Kumaratunga argued that importing radio equipment for the LTTE could also have implications for Sri Lanka’s neighbours.

However, the government last week gave details of the radio equipment and said the consignment had been checked by defence authorities here.

The government and the LTTE entered into a ceasefire in February and a fourth round of peace talks aimed at ending decades of ethnic bloodshed is to be held on Monday.—AFP