The dramatic escalation of the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone raises serious concerns, Norwegian FM Børge Brende stated. “Norway urges the sides to the conflict to cease military actions and honor the ceasefire agreement signed in 1994. Human losses and destabilization of the situation in the region should be avoided. On Friday evening battles began all along the Line of Contact established in 1994. Despite the ceasefire, from time to time clashes took place between the sides, but the last day was the toughest one since 1994.’
FM Børge also noted that Norway backs the actions of the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at the peaceful settlement of the conflict. “I urge the sides to put down the arms and look for a solution at the bargaining table,” he stressed.

Azerbaijan launched outright offensive military actions along the Line of Contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces, from late Friday night through Saturday morning, and using a variety of weaponry as well as artillery, armored vehicles, and air force. A 12-year-old boy was killed, two other children were wounded. The Karabakh forces have reported about destroying two Azerbaijani helicopters, four tanks and two drones. The Armenian side has 18 casualties, nearly 35 soldiers having been wounded.

Azerbaijani side has suffered over 200 casualties.

LAST week, the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet — a motley civil society coalition of labour, industry, human rights activists and lawyers — received the Nobel peace prize in Oslo. The five-member Norwegian Nobel committee praised the quartet’s “decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy”, while African Union chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had noted previously that “Tunisia has become a beacon of hope for peace in Africa”.The coalition helped their country avert civil war in 2013 by pushing political parties to accept a government of technocrats to organise democratic elections, negotiating a secular constitution that protected the rights of women, and coaxing the Islamist Ennahda party to surrender power. It was appropriate that Tunisia — the cradle of the “Afro-Arab Spring” — was awarded this prize, which four South Africans — Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk — have won.
When an unemployed 26-year-old street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, immolated himself in December 2010 in a protest against government repression, his martyrdom triggered a political revolution that toppled mummified Pharaohs in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

However, following the “Jasmine Revolution” of 2011, the political situation in Tunisia became bleak amid political assassinations, street protests and a weak military overwhelmed by local and regionally fuelled Islamic insurgencies.

The moving force behind the Tunisian quartet in August 2013 was Houcine Abbassi, head of the Tunisian General Labour Union. Many believed that he deserved the most credit for the democratic transition, and some felt he alone should have won the Nobel prize.

The veteran trade unionist was tenacious in convincing his historical foe, Ennahda, to stand aside and allow new elections. He employed his formidable deal-making skills as a labour negotiator and deployed his union’s superior economic clout (with 750,000 members) to stitch together complex political deals.

The quartet’s strategy was to use its popular legitimacy to draw a road map signed by 20 parties, establish an independent electoral commission and force amendments in the draft constitution during a three-month national dialogue.

Rather like the South African peace process, Tunisia’s dialogue was a home-grown one that crafted creative local solutions rather than relying on external mediators.

One of the most important elements in the Tunisian success was the political maturity of Ennahda, which became the first Islamic party to give up power voluntarily.

If, like Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Ennahda had decided to dig in its heels and insist on its popular mandate from elections in October 2011, the outcome in Tunisia would doubtless have been very different.

Unlike Egypt’s military junta, Tunisia’s military brass hats stayed in their barracks, and Ennahda lost power through ballots rather than bullets, handing over to the secularist Nidaa Tounes coalition following last year’s election.

Despite the optimism that has greeted Tunisia’s Nobel triumph, dark clouds loom on the horizon. Two terrorist attacks this year killed 21 tourists at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis in March, while 38 tourists were gunned down at a resort in Sousse in June. The largest group of foreigners joining the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq are Tunisians.

Amid internal wrangling and splits, the country’s political system remains rife with cronyism and corruption. Some have even complained that the quartet’s peace deal represented an “elite pact” that shared the spoils of power among secularists and Islamist political players, but marginalised the masses, who continue to bear the brunt of 15% unemployment.

Regional tensions remain between the poor south and wealthier north. Tunisia itself is entrapped in a rough neighbourhood between anarchic Libya and turbulent Algeria. The government in Tunis has been accused of clamping down on genuine dissent by passing antiterrorism legislation and closing 80 mosques.

Many members of the ancien régime of the ossified dictatorship of Ben Ali are now back in power, obstructing efforts to seek truth and reconciliation and instead pushing dubious political amnesties.

The clear lesson from Tunisia, however, remains that supporting civil society efforts can be a cost-effective way of preventing violent conflicts. But despite this Nobel prize, the Jasmine revolution is far from being consolidated and appears to be devouring its own children.

The agreement on victims will seek justice to be done and the end of violence of the conflict in Colombia, remarked today here Dag Nylanderel, representative for Norway, guarantor country in the peace negotiations. The main purpose of this agreement on victims is to guarantee giving dignity, to do justice and pave the way to end the violence of that conflict and for anybody else to be a victim, said Nylanderel.The delegations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) and the Government reached an agreement about the victims of the conflict that has been affecting that nation for more than 50 years.
About the agreement, Nylanderel highlighted the creation of a comprehensive system of the truth, compensation and non-repetition.

The different measures of this comprehensive system should contribute to satisfy the rights of the victims, by means of a combination of legal and extrajudicial mechanisms, he said.

Implementing the measures included in this system would have the purpose of preventing re-victimization and repetition, as well as guaranteeing the end of the conflict and preventing the emergence of new forms of violence, he added.

The High Peace Council (HPC) has praised what it calls change in Taliban’s stance towards women’s rights in Afghanistan, following a meeting between the Taliban’s representatives and Afghan female lawmakers in Norway.The Taliban’s representatives held talks with female lawmakers and civil society members in Oslo earlier on Saturday and as well as they joined a meeting with a number of Afghan political figures in Dubai on Sunday. Fawzia Kofi and Shukriya Barikzai—two female lawmakers, Hawa Alam Nuristani and Sediqa Balkhi, members of the HPC were present in the meeting in Norway.
Quoted by Radio Azadi on Monday, the HPC Advisor for International Affairs, Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, said that following the Qatar meeting, the Taliban has changed their stance regarding women’s rights. “The Taliban representatives have expressed in Qatar that girls have the right to educate and women have the right to work. This is one step forward towards HPC goals,” he said.

Malalai Shinwari, former member of the Parliament and one of the participants of the recent informal talks in Qatar, has said that the Taliban’s standpoint has changed towards women’s rights.

In the meantime, Qasimyar said that a number of Afghan politicians and two members of Quetta Shura have met in Dubai. He said such meetings are vital for building trust between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

According to reports, Qayum Kochi, President Ghani’s uncle was one of the participants of Dubai meeting. Moreover, Sayid Ishaq Gilani, Mirwais Yasini, Qutbuddin Hilal had attended talks with the Taliban in Qatar.

The Peace and Reconciliation Foundation revealed the FARC’s unilateral cease-fire reduced the intensity of conflict by nearly 90 percent. Representatives from Cuba and Norway, the two guarantor nations of the Colombian peace process, called Wednesday for a bilateral cease-fire in order to help deescalate the armed conflict that has grown bloodier over the last two months.“We call on the parties to continue their efforts to continue to advance in the discussion of the pending issues, including the adoption of a definitive bilateral cease-fire and end to hostilities,” read a communique by Rodolfo Benitez, the Cuban representative, and Dag Nylander, the Norwegian representative.
The pair also emphasized that these negotiations had progressed further than any other recent effort and that peace for Colombia was close at hand.

The massacre of 27 guerrillas in the department of Cauca including a member of the rebel’s negotiating team, forcing the FARC to suspend its unilateral cease-fire, which had been in effect since December 2014.

An investigation by the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation determined that the FARC’s unilateral ceasefire was extremely effective at reducing the violence, reducing the intensity of the conflict by close to 90 percent.

According to the foundation, there was an average of 179 armed clashes per month in 2011, before the start of the peace talks. Meanwhile during the five-month period that the FARC abided by its unilateral cease-fire there were only 91 conflicts.

Colombian President Juan Manual Santos ordered the resumption of airstrikes against FARC camps after a clash in April left 11 government soldiers dead. In addition to the recent bombing that left 27 rebels dead, government airstrikes killed another further 14 guerrillas including a high-ranking FARC commander.

Aside from the casualties, military confrontations between the guerrillas and the government also result in the displacement of campesinos. According to Semana magazine, the bombing in Cauca resulted in at least 352 displaced people. The Peace and Reconciliation Foundation said that the unilateral ceasefire resulted in at least 14,000 fewer displaces people.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that a truce dramatically reduces the intensity of the conflict, Santos has refused to agree to a bilateral ceasefire.

(telesurtv)

A former Taliban fighter looks on after joining Afghan government forces during a ceremony in Herat province on March 26, 2012. Twelve fighters left the Taliban to join government forces in western Afghanistan. The Taliban, ousted from power by a US-led invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, announced earlier this month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar ahead of talks with Washington. AFP PHOTO / Aref KARIMI (Photo credit should read Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)

Representatives of Taliban and Afghan authorities have recently in secret participated in a seminar for peace mediation in Oslo, public broadcaster NRK reports. These seminars are arranged by the Norwegian Defence College (Forsvarets Høgskole). Participants come from all parts of the world.According to NRK, the Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs has refused to comment on the story.

– This is an International course. We have made an agreement with all the participants not to comment on their presence here, says spokesperson Veslemøy Lothe Salvesen to NRK.

– Whether or to they just needed to meet in a neutral place, or wanted to learn how to proceed, this is good news, says Afghan expert Kate Clark.

(NRK)

Norway has joined 6 other countries in supporting the peace process in the southern Philippines despite a deadly clash that killed 44 members of an elite police force, at least 17 Muslim rebels, and 7 civilians. “It is now more important than ever to put every effort into the peace process,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende told the Philippines, according to a statement by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, February 11.Brende added: “Armed conflict is a serious threat to development and has negative consequences far beyond the actual battlefield. A lasting settlement in Mindanao would benefit the entire population of the Philippines.”
Norway belongs to the International Monitoring Team (IMT) for the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). It also serves as vice chair of the Independent Decommissioning Body in charge of decommissioning the MILF’s firearms.

The peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF aims to end a 4-decade-old Muslim secessionist movement in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.

The bloodbath in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, however, cast doubts on the peace process.

‘Unyielding commitment’ praised

Because of investigations into the clash, for instance, the Philippines’ House of Representatives will no longer meet the March 2015 deadline to pass the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), a landmark in the negotiations.

Chief government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer had estimated that the peace process would be delayed by at least a month, following the Mamasapano clash

The BBL aims to create an autonomous Muslim region more powerful than the one in place.

Despite these hitches, Brende praised both parties for “their unyielding commitment to the peace process.”

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario is expected to discuss the situation in Mindanao, as well as the welfare of 25,000 Filipino seamen, during his official visit to Norway from Wednesday to Thursday, February 11.

Like Norway, 6 other countries – Australia, Canada, Libya, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States – backed the peace process.

In a letter to Del Rosario, Abobaker I.W. Ataweel, charge d’ affaires of the Libyan Embassy in Manila, said he hopes “the people of the Philippines will triumph over this tragic incident and continue the pursuit to attain the peace in Mindanao.”

(Rappler)

The FARC-EP delegation participating in the negotiations with the Colombian government met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, in which the guerrilla informed on the progresses of the peace process. According to a statement released today, the insurgent delegation in the peace process in Havana since 2012 with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, met yesterday about two hours with Brende and his companions, to exchange information on the progresses of the peace process.The important contribution of Norway (as guarantor country in the negotiations along with Cuba) is making to achieve peace in Colombia was recognized during the meeting.
The group also recalled that the Norwegian representatives do not only participate in deliberations in Havana but also have been a key feature so the guerrilla commanders could travel with security to Cuba, as well as to participate in humanitarian activities, among other important works.

The representation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) was led by the head of the peace delegation, commander Ivan Marquez, accompanied by Pastor Alape, Pablo Catatumbo, Carlos Antonio Lozada, Joaquin Gomez and Ricardo Tellez.

The Norwegian group was comprised of the general director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tore Hattrem; the deputy chief of the Latin American department, Trygue Berdihsby; the head of the guarantor delegation in Havana negotiations, Dag Nylander; ambassador to Cuba, John Peher Opdahl; Dag Nagoda and Iver Willihsen.

Brende had met some few hours before with the head of the government peace delegation, Humberto de la Calle, who came accompanied by Dr. Sergio Jaramillo, generals Jorge Enrique Mora Rangel and Oscar Naranjo, and Dr. Maria Paulina Riveros.

(Modificado)

A U.N. envoy said Wednesday that deadlocked talks to reunify ethnically split Cyprus were at risk of being derailed amid a dispute over rights to search for offshore gas. Espen Barth Eide said it’s unclear when talks would resume. “I am increasingly concerned that things are not moving,” Eide said after talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aiming at union with Greece. Turkey doesn’t recognize Cyprus as a state and insists it won’t allow a unilateral oil and gas search by the internationally recognized Greek Cypriots at the expense of Turkish Cypriots in the island’s breakaway north.
A Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence is recognized only by Turkey, which maintains 35,000 troops in the north.

Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, suspended talks last October when Turkey announced plans to mount a mineral search in waters where the Cypriot government had licensed companies such as Italy’s Eni and South Korean Kogas to drill. A Turkish research vessel has been conducting seismic tests under naval escort there.

Hopes that talks would restart soon were dashed last week when Turkey said it plans to continue seismic tests in the area.

Anastasiades said talks can’t resume while Cyprus’ sovereign rights are being violated and that Turkish Cypriots can share in any potential gas wealth after a peace deal is reached.

But Anastasiades softened his stance on a key Turkish Cypriot demand, suggesting that mineral-related issues could be discussed once negotiations have reached the final stages.

The move earned plaudits from Eide, but Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Greek Cypriots weren’t acting in good faith when drilling continues without Turkish Cypriot input.

Cavusoglu said after talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu on Wednesday that Turkish Cypriots must have an immediate say in any drilling in order to ensure their rights are safeguarded.

(utsandiego)

The government and communist insurgents have agreed to resume their off-and-on peace talks after more than a year since their negotiations bogged down in Oslo, Norway, which has been retained as the third party facilitator. But there was disagreement on when the talks would resume between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed component the New People’s Army (NPA) that have been waging a Maoist-style insurgency for 46 years, considered the longest in Asia and the Pacific.In a video message posted on his Facebook, Jose Maria Sison, the CPP founder who is on exile in the Netherlands, said the talks could start in the first half of January 2015.
Sison posted his message on Christmas Day on the eve of the observation of the 49th founding anniversary of the CPP-NPA on Dec.25.

Secretary Teresita Deles, the presidential adviser on the peace process, described Sison’s statement as “very positive” but did not give a timeline when the negotiations would resume.

However, Deles confirmed the two parties have agreed to resume their talks, saying: “Friends of the peace process have been shuttling between the two parties to explore possible parameters for restarting talks at the earliest possible time.”

The resumption of the talks also gained confirmation from the arrival in the Philippines of two leaders of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the Maoists insurgents, that represented them in the peace negotiations hosted by Norway.
Reliable military intelligence sources who requested anonymity, disclosed that former priest Luis Jalandoni, the NDF chief, and his wife Connie Ledesma arrived by plane on Dec.25 on the eve of the observation of the 49th founding anniversary of the CPP-NPA.

Their return came after the government declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire with the Maoists from Dec.19 to Jan.19, 2015 to enable the combatants to spend Christmas and the New Year with their families and loved ones.

Asked if the return of the two NDF leaders was related to persistent talks on the resumption of the peace negotiations, one of the sources said; “I cannot comment on that because it’s a political issue. What I can say is, whatever the government decision on the issue, the military will fully support it.”

(gulftoday)

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 to India’s hindu Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani Muslim teenager Malala Yousafzai “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” “Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. In the poor countries of the world, 60 per cent of the present population is under 25 years of age. It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected.
In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee opined.
Kailash Satyarthi has been declared as the Nobel prize recipient for showing great personal courage. The committee said that Satyarthi maintained Mahatma Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. “He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights,” the committee said.

On the other hand, Malala Yousafzai has been awarded for having fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and showing by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education,” the committee said.

The Nobel Committee also said that it is an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism. “Many other individuals and institutions in the international community have also contributed. It has been calculated that there are 168 million child labourers around the world today. In 2000 the figure was 78 million higher. The world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labour,” the committee said.

“The struggle against suppression and for the rights of children and adolescents contributes to the realization of the “fraternity between nations” that Alfred Nobel mentions in his will as one of the criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize,” the committee said.

Norway announced Tuesday that it was delaying the meeting of an international donor group for the Palestinian Authority (PA), planned for next week, in light of the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers last Thursday by Hamas terrorists. The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which is responsible for coordinating international funding of the PA and is chaired by Norway, was set to meet in Oslo on June 25.”The situation is not conducive to having an AHLC meeting at this point,” Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Frode Andersen told AFP. Frode avoided specifically referencing the kidnapping as the reason for the delay.
The PA has threatened to end its unity deal with Hamas over the kidnapping according to unconfirmed reports, even as it celebrates the kidnapping.

Andersen said the decision to postpone the meeting was made in coordination with the PA, Israel, the European Union (EU) and the US. He did not give a date for when the meeting would be held.

Over 20 European members of parliaments (MPs), hailing from 15 different European countries, signed a joint declaration on Monday condemning the kidnapping.

“We support Israel’s right to defend its citizens from acts of war and terror, as is the duty of every sovereign nation. We condemn in the strongest terms the recent kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers and demand that the Palestinian Authority actively assist in securing their safe return,” read the joint statement.

The EU welcomed the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, and a delegation of EU officials traveled to Gaza last Wednesday to meet Gaza-based members of the unity government.

Hamas is on the EU’s list of terrorist organizations. That listing specifically includes both “Hamas” and “Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem,” meaning that both the military and governmental branches of Hamas are recognized as terror groups by the EU.

(israel national news)

‘I am pleased that we can now see a positive development in South Sudan. IGAD and the parties deserve recognition for having taken an important step towards a peaceful solution to the conflict. The further negotiations will not be easy, and the parties must demonstrate that they really are willing to fulfil what they have promised,’ said Foreign Minister Børge Brende. At a meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on 10 June, President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar agreed on the framework for a political solution to the conflict in South Sudan.
The two parties have committed themselves to stopping hostilities and to reaching agreement on the establishment of a transitional government within 60 days.
‘The deadline for establishing a transitional government clearly reflects the fact that the international community expects the parties to the conflict to shoulder their responsibility. Norway supports the important effort IGAD has made to prevent further violence by means of the Monitoring and Verification Teams, which have been established to monitor the implementation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and improve humanitarian access in South Sudan.

‘We will continue our support to IGAD and we will continue to engage directly with the parties to help to ensure that the agreements are implemented. This is essential if the pledges of humanitarian assistance made at the humanitarian conference in Oslo on 19-20 May are to benefit the people of South Sudan,’ said Mr Brende.

(Press release)

‘It is very positive that talks with the ELN rebels have started in Colombia. Lasting, stable peace in Colombia will not be possible without a political solution that includes both left-wing rebel groups,’ said Foreign Minister Børge Brende. The Colombian Government and the guerrilla group ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) announced today that they are working towards formal peace negotiations with the aim of ending the armed conflict in Colombia. The two parties, with assistance from Norway, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela, have been taking part in confidential preliminary talks since January this year.The Colombian Government started formal negotiations with the country’s largest rebel group, FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo), in Oslo in October 2012. ELN was formed in 1964, as was FARC-EP, and is the second largest armed rebel group in Colombia.
The conflict in Colombia has caused terrible suffering for the civilian population. Several hundred thousand people have been killed, and more than five million people are internally displaced as a result of the conflict.

‘Colombia now has a historic opportunity to achieve peace. Peace is crucial for development, and Norway is prepared to assist the Colombian people in their efforts to find a solution to the armed conflict,’ said Mr Brende.

(Press release)

The Myanmar Peace Support Initiative (MPSI), a Norwegian government-backed project to mobilize international support for Burma’s peace process, will continue despite criticism and the fact that it was originally set up as a short-term initiative, according to a consultant for the project. “We are currently discussing with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs how to go forward with MPSI,” said Ashley South, who acts as a senior advisor to the project. “For the time being, we have agreed to continue working until at least September.”Established in early 2012 in response to a request from President Thein Sein, the MPSI has come under fire for its lack of a coherent strategy and its failure to address the concerns of community-based groups and other actors affected by the peace process.
In January of this year, the relevance of the MPSI was reviewed two years after Norway spent US$2 million in Burma’s ethnic conflict areas.

The money was spent on dozens of pilot projects in Shan, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Chin states as well as Pegu and Tenasserim divisions. The projects focused on humanitarian aid, education support, development and the possible return of internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees. Some 60,000 IDPs were issued national identity card with the support of MPSI, which also held consultations and workshops in ethnic areas.
In March, a report assessing the MPSI noted shortcomings in the way the project was being implemented, but suggested that these issues were being addressed.

“As the peace process slowly moved forward, MPSI recognized the need to become involved in longer-term support, including state-level consultations, building the capacity of ethnic actors to engage with the peace process, and finding ways to make voices from the ground heard by those in power—both the Burmese government or donors,” said the report, titled “Testing Ceasefires, Building Trust.”

However, some relief groups and others dealing with conflict-related issues expressed dissatisfaction with the report’s sanguine assessment of the effectiveness of the MPSI.

“These people [the MPSI] have done nothing for our people,” said Sumlut Seng, an aid worker in Kachin State, where nearly three years of conflict between government forces and ethnic rebels have displaced tens of thousands of civilians.

“[They] just take all this international funds without doing anything to stop the war in our homeland. They should give us the money for IDPs in Kachin State instead,” he added.

South acknowledged that the MPSI was not intended to be a long-term project, but defended the decision to keep it going.

“As the peace process has moved forward, we have felt it useful to keep going and have now been working for nearly two and a half years,” he said via email.

(irrawaddy)

Ron Pundak, an architect of the 1993 Oslo agreement between Israel and the PLO, died at home of cancer Friday, aged 59, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. In the early 1990s, with the approval of then foreign minister Shimon Peres, Pundak and fellow Israeli academic Yair Hirschfeld forged a secret channel of communications with the PLO in Norway, at a time when such links were illegal for Israelis. “The secret channel, nicknamed ‘the academic talks,’ which took place in an Oslo research center with the approval of Norway’s government, eventually led to the Oslo peace process,” wrote Haaretz.Coincidentally, Tel Aviv-born Pundak worked briefly as a journalist for the newspaper after obtaining a doctorate from the University of London in 1991.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief peace negotiator with the PLO, called Pundak “a hero for peace” who “believed in peace and strove for it until his last day.”

UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry added his own tribute.

“I knew Ron as somebody tirelessly working for peace,” he said in a statement.

“Together with others, he showed that peace is possible, in fact, necessary, even in the face of tremendous setbacks, adversity, and skepticism.”

Since last year Pundak was co-chair and president of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum and a member of the committee of the French-based Aix Group, an NGO for Middle East peace centerd in Aix-en-Provence.

Pundak is survived by his widow and two children.

The Oslo accords, signed Sept. 13, 1993, were meant as an interim agreement leading to a final peace agreement and an independent Palestinian state within five years.

Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti has called the accords “a transition to nothing” used as a cover by Israel “to consolidate a system of apartheid.”

The British historian Michael Cook is awarded ‘the Nobel Prize of the arts, humanities, social sciences, law and theology’. Terje Lohndal is the youngest recipient ever to be awarded the Nils Klim Prize. The Chair of the Holberg Board, Sigmund Grønmo, announced the winners in Bergen today, March 11. The official award ceremony will take place June 4 in Bergen where the prizes will be presented to the laureates by H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon and the Minister of Education and Research, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen.According to the Holberg Committee Cook is awarded the prize for developing new perspectives on the relationship between religion, politics and law within Islam. Through his research he emphasizes the role of religious values in the formation of Islamic civilization from the mediaeval period to the present.

Widely published scholar- from English to Persian

Michael Cook has reshaped fields that span from Ottoman studies to the history of the Wahhabiyya movement. He was also among the first scholars to apply non-Islamic sources to the study of the genesis of early Islam.

His research has been translated into many languages; Japanese, Arabic and Persian to mention a few. During spring 2014 Cook will publish another book which explores why Islam has gained a prominent political role in our time.

The Holberg Prize amounts to 4,5 million Norwegian kroner and has been called ‘the Nobel Prize of the arts, humanities, social sciences, law and theology’.

The youngest Nils Klim-laureate ever

The linguist, Terje Lohndal (1985), is the youngest recipient of the Nils Klim Prize ever. The Prize amounts to 250 000 Norwegian kroner.

Lohndal receives the Prize due to the originality of his many publications on a high international level.

Lohndal is already an international household name within the linguistics. His research is often characterized as Chomskyan linguistics and formal grammar. Lohndal himself says that he wants to understand the human language faculty.

– I want to know whether there are any language-specific mechanisms at work, and what the interplay between the language faculty and general cognition is. It is an incredibly ambitious and demanding project. Specifically I am looking at the interplay between language structure and meaning, says Lohndal.

Lohndal is educated at the University of Oslo and received his PhD-degree at the Department of language and literature.

Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon thanked Norway and Venezuela for their support of the peace process between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), begun in 2012 in Havana. Garzon traveled to this Swiss city to attend the high-level segment of the 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“Colombia has nothing but words of gratitude to Norway and Cuba which very kindly and sincerely, under the principles of discretion and security, have contributed to the dialogue,” the vice president said at a news conference.Garzon extended his recognition to the governments of Venezuela and Chile, for accompanying the peace process, and said that the positive contribution of those countries to the process was evident.

After leaving Sri Lanka, Tomas was asked to lead Norway´s global efforts for peace as head of the section for peace and reconciliation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In that role he related to ministers and peace envoys from all continents. It is with deep regret that the NORWAY NEWS announces the death of Norwegian diplomat Tomas Stangeland, a Norwegian diplomat who was in Sri Lanka at the height of the Oslo-brokered peace process in Sri Lanka. Tomas was the affable Second Secretary of the Norwegian embassy in 2002 when a truce deal was agreed between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. For local and foreign journalists, he was the main contact at the embassy. He died of cancer on February 12, 2014 in Oslo. He was 43.
His unassuming disposition earned him friends among the journalistic community even though the peace process itself was controversial and attracted criticism. He was a keen participant at Peace activities. It is a tribute to his diplomatic skills that he was never personally targeted for any criticism, a quality noted by two high profile individuals involved in the peace effort at the time — Norway’s special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Erik Solheim and former deputy foreign minister Vidar Helgesen. From Colombo, Tomas was posted to Washington and thereafter returned to Oslo to head a peace and reconciliation unit at the foreign ministry.
In a joint statement, the two most senior Norwegian figures during the peace process, Vidar Helgesen and Erik Solheim, pay tribute to Tomas.

TOMAS STANGELAND

It is hard to think of any human being who entertained so many friends and so few protagonists as Tomas Stangeland. Tomas died in his home in Oslo 12th of February. He had been sick with cancer for a while. His wife Elisabeth and three small children are surviving him.

Tomas was simply one of the finest persons we have known. He represented the best of our country Norway. He was intelligent, kind, committed, risk-taking, humane, honest and respectful.

He was one of our most able diplomats destined to do great things and carry even bigger responsibilities, though Tomas’ humility could mask the breadth of his ability to those who had not seen him in action. Tomas was a quiet man, but was chorus of talent, a symphony of a human being.

Tomas always considered Sri Lanka his second homeland. He loved to speak of every issue Sri Lankan, He felt he had invested his soul, his energy and the most important years of his career in the island.
He was a pillar of the Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka. He worked day and night after the tsunami, caring for the survivors, trying to help identify the missing. Tomas will be buried in Norway, but part of his soul will always remain in Sri Lanka.

Norway´s peace efforts in Sri Lanka were controversial from time to time, even resented or hated by some. Not so with Tomas. He managed to work with presidents, prime ministers and rebel leaders as well as with people working in the paddy fields or driving rickshaws.
His family has been overwhelmed with kind messages from Sri Lanka in the last few days.

Tomas was the point of contact for Sri Lankan and international media wanting to inquire into Norwegian perspectives on war and peace. He treated everyone with respect, going to great lengths to help. Norway was sometimes blamed, Tomas never so. He was a born journalist, understanding the human story behind the headlines. His many media friends are dearly missing him.
After leaving Sri Lanka, Tomas was asked to lead Norway´s global efforts for peace as head of the section for peace and reconciliation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In that role he related to ministers and peace envoys from all continents.

He took some very big risks, for peace. And it worked. Not always, but often. It sometimes looked hopeless, almost naive. But Tomas pushed us hard to be smart, to make strong demands, to be persistent, to take risks – including the risk that a project would fail. To put it simply – Tomas’ work, support and commitment saved lives. What more or better can a person do in this life?

Vidar Helgesen
Erik Solheim

Apart from being the main external liaison for the Norwegians, Tomas was also deeply involved in Oslo’s shuttle diplomacy between Colombo, Kilinochchi and London, where LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham was based.

“Given how highly charged and acrimonious the peace process was, it is notable that Tomas was highly respected and much liked by everyone involved. I know the LTTE’s senior political figures had the highest regard for him,” said former Tamil Guardian editor, Sutha Nadarajah.

“Invariably good humoured and easygoing, with a keen intellect, Tomas was the archetypal diplomat.”

Tomas Stangeland mourned

http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=9974

http://www.globalpeacesupport.com/2014/02/tomas-stangeland-mourned/

http://www.island.lk/index.php?code_title=97992&page=article-details&page_cat=article-details