Sri Lanka calls for expulsion of Icelandic diplomat

Peter · **Posted:** Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:29 pm

Sri Lanka calls for expulsion of Icelandic diplomat

Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said it asked Reykjavik to recall Bjarni Vestmann, a minister-counsellor at Iceland's foreign ministry, after he entered the country on a tourist visa and went to the north to meet with rebels.

COLOMBO (AFP) — Sri Lanka on Tuesday called for the expulsion of an Icelandic diplomat who made a clandestine visit to the Tamil Tiger-held north of the island.

Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said it asked Reykjavik to recall Bjarni Vestmann, a minister-counsellor at Iceland's foreign ministry, after he entered the country on a tourist visa and went to the north to meet with rebels.

"The (Sri Lankan foreign) minister strongly protested the action of Mr. Vestmann and requested his immediate recall," a ministry statement said.

Foreigners and journalists are not allowed to enter territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) without government permission.

The diplomat, however, had managed to get a ride with Scandinavian truce monitors, the ministry said.

It said it had also lodged a protest with the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) for transporting the diplomat.

There was no immediate comment from the SLMM or Vestmann.

The Tamil Tigers had on Tuesday posted a picture of Vestmann calling on the LTTE's political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan at the guerrillas' political headquarters in Kilinochchi.

The SLMM is on the island to monitor a Norwegian-brokered truce agreed to in February 2002. The ceasefire has since collapsed.

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Sri Lanka calls for expulsion of Icelandic diplomat

Sri Lanka calls for expulsion of Icelandic diplomat

Sri Lanka calls for expulsion of Icelandic diplomat

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