Sri Lanka Buddhist monks want Norway out of peace facilitating

A group of Buddhist monks marched to the Norwegian embassy here Tuesday, demanding that Norway quit from Sri Lanka.

The monks from the National Bhikku Front and backed by the main left party the JVP or the People's Liberation Front demanded the immediate withdrawal of Norway from the peace facilitating role with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

"We demand that the Norwegians who are helping the LTTE to set up a separate state be banished immediately," Venerable Dambara Amila, a leading protesting monk said.

He added the Norwegians had not been impartial right from the start of their peace facilitation role in Sri Lanka.

He accused Norway of laying out a red carpet to welcome the Tigers when they visited Norway after last month's Geneva talks with the Sri Lankan government.

The police placed barricades in front of the Norwegian embassy as protesters gathered around there.

The Norwegian government has been facilitating peace in the island since the year 2000. Their efforts have brought the two warring factions to six rounds of direct talks which ceased violence that had claimed over 64,000 lives since the mid-1980s.

Source: Xinhua