Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg Appointed Acting SLMM Chief

(Norwegian Foreign Office Press Release, Full Unedited Text )

Acting Head of Mission for SLMM Appointed

Media Release21 August 2006

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pleased to inform that Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg has been appointed as Acting Head of Mission for Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

Following consultations with the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Norway has decided to appoint Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg as Acting Head of the Nordic monitoring mission SLMM.

“Major General Sølvberg’s wide experience and impressive military background will be important assets in his new position as Acting Head of Mission. In spite of the reduction in the number of SLMM personnel, both parties to the conflict have expressed their strong wish for continued SLMM presence. The appointment of Major General Sølvberg is of great importance in the difficult situation we are currently facing,” said Minister of International Development Erik Solheim.

Major General Sølvberg will take up his position as Acting Head of Mission on 1 September 2006.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to Regroup in Colombo Temporarily

The Swedish, Finnish and Danish members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) are due to leave by the end of August, as the LTTE will not accept EU nationals as monitors after 1 September.

The gradual withdrawal of these 39 monitors (out of a total contingent of 57) has begun. Norwegian and Icelandic monitors will remain in Sri Lanka, and their number will gradually be increased to 30 when the ground situation permits and demands such an increase. It is envisaged that additional monitors from other countries will be invited later.

At the moment, intensive military operations and fighting are taking place in several locations in the North and East. The parties are restricting the SLMM’s access to combat areas.As a result, the Head of Mission, Major General Ulf Henricsson, has decided to regroup the international monitors in Colombo temporarily.

This will allow the SLMM to focus its full attention on ensuring that the scaled-down mission is safely and securely re-organised under new Norwegian and Icelandic leadership. Norwegian and Icelandic monitors will be redeployed to the district offices as soon as the personnel is ready and the situation in each district permits the resumption of secure field monitoring.