United News of India Report, 12 December 2005

"The four co-chairs are the four co-chairs. But we would very much like to engage in continuous and substantive discussions and exchange of views with the government of India, which obviously carries a very considerable influence in this region. We have been thinking and talking with India how best we could deal with each other" -

The co-chairs of Sri Lanka's donor community — the US, Japan, Norway and the European Union — will meet in Brussels on December 19 to review the peace process in the island nation after an escalation in violence that threatens to undermine the fragile truce between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

"In Brussels we will certainly be engaged in a fundamental analysis of the situation on the prospects of peace in Sri Lanka.... We will take stock of the situation and determine the kind of role the co-chairs might be able to play in this situation," visiting Japanese peace envoy for Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi told reporters here today.

In a reference to the claymore mine blasts that left at least 15 soldiers killed in the Northern Jaffna peninsula and sporadic clashes in the restive East, he said the potential danger of sudden escalation has drawn the attention of the international community, especially the co-chairs as to what could happen in the island nation.

"The deterioration of the situation, the potential danger of sudden escalation of violence and very delicate state in which the parties are engaged in a comprehensive review, I think the co-chairs are paying a lot of attention as to what is happening and what could happen in Sri Lanka," Akashi said.

Asked on the possibility of India serving as a partner in the donor co-chairs, Mr. Akashi said that the question did not arise "based on the historical fact that four co-chairs chaired Tokyo conference on the reconstruction and development of Sri Lanka in June 2003".

"The four co-chairs are the four co-chairs. But we would very much like to engage in continuous and substantive discussions and exchange of views with the government of India, which obviously carries a very considerable influence in this region. We have been thinking and talking with India how best we could deal with each other," Akashi, who will attend the Brussels meeting on behalf of Japan, said.

The co-chairs have been constantly warning that global attention could shift to other struggling nations if the parties in Sri Lanka failed to make use of the existing international focus on the island nation to resolve their decades-long ethnic crisis.

Akashi said in the overall global situation, the attention span of governments was "notoriously short" while the cry for attention was very high.

"Look at Africa and the Middle-East; there are many serious conflicts and peace building challenges calling for our attention. However, in the foreseeable future, Sri Lanka will be one of our priority situations and the question of attention shifting elsewhere does not arise in the short run," he said.