Norway granted $366m to Sri Lanka

Minister Solheim says President Rajapaksa should be 'magnanimous' in military victory Norway has granted 2.5 billion NOK ($366million) to Sri Lanka from 1997-2009, a report issued by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) stated. The money has been provided to the Sri Lankan government, Norwegian and Sri Lankan non governmental organisations (NGOs) and the Tamil Tigers, according to Norad evaluation report on Sri Lanka’s peace process. The report says that the funds provided to majority of Sri Lankan NGOs have been properly dispersed. “One important exception is the Milinda Moragoda Inst together with the Indian NGOs Horison and Sarvatra,” says the report. The Milinda Moragoda Inst formed by former minister Milinda Moragoda has received more than 60 million NOK. Accountability Mr Moragoda who was a member of the negotiating team on behalf of Ranil Wickramasinghe administration later defected to Mahinda Rajapaksa government while a parliamentary committee found serious allegations of corruption during his tenure with Wickramasinghe administration.  Then the most difficult issue of accountability for what happened in the last days of the war. That issue will not go away, it will remain for a long period of time   Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim While Sri Lanka Department of External Resources has been given nearly 300,000 million NOK, the government has been granted nearly 70,000 million NOK. The LTTE peace secretariat has been granted more than 18,000 million NOK and Sarvodaya and Sewalanka headed by Harsha Kumara Navaratne have received similar ammounts. The report prepared by Christian Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Bergen and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on behalf of Norad has concluded that there was little Norway could do to “influence the forces that put an end to the peace process”. Milinda Moragoda Inst was granted 60,260 NOK by the Norwegian government Although the Sri Lanka's peace process has been a failure, according to the report, Norway should not be “held solely or primarily responsible” for the failure as there have been several “intermediate achievements.” Addressing a seminar in Norway upon releasing the report, the Norwegian Minister for Environment, Erik Solheim, stressed the need for Sri Lanka to find a lasting solution and the Tamil disapora to change tactics. “There is no military solution to political problems. Problem in Sri Lanka is not military. It is political and it is for the president to reach out to solve that political problem,” Mr Solheim said. He also stressed the need for Tamils within Sri Lanka, such as TNA, to take the leadership in finding a solution instead of the diaspora. “Then the most difficult issue of accountability for what happened in the last days of the war. That issue will not go away, it will remain for a long period of time,” the Norwegian minister added.