John Hume arrives in Sri Lanka
Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume arrived in Sri Lanka today to share his experiences with Sri Lankan officials and Tamil Tiger rebels.
The Colombo government wants to draw on Northern Ireland’s experiences in creating a power-sharing administration as it tries to end a 19-year civil war that has killed almost 65,000 people.
Hume, the former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, was a key player in formulating Ireland’s Good Friday peace agreement in 1998.
He shared the Nobel Peace Prize the same year with Unionist leader David Trimble for their efforts to forge the power-sharing deal.
A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire has stopped the fighting between the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels and given the island nation its best chance for peace in recent years.
The parties have held six rounds of peace talks, with the rebels saying they are willing to give up their demand for a separate state and accept a power-sharing arrangement instead.
Mr Hume is to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tomorrow and then travel to northern rebel-held territory on Thursday to meet Tamil Tiger leaders.
He is also due to give a lecture, meet MPs and hold talks with President Chandrika Kumaratunga before leaving Sri Lanka on Saturday.
The Tigers accuse the majority Sinhalese, who are predominantly Buddhist, of discrimination in education and jobs against the country’s 3.2 million minority Tamils, most of whom are Hindu and live in the north.
