Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim
Erik Solheimis a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party. He is currently Executive Director of UNEP, the United Nations' Environment Programme. Solheim was leader of the Socialist Youth from 1977 to 1981, party secretary from 1981 to 1985, and member of the Parliament of Norway from 1989 to 2001. He was party leader from 1987 to 1997. He was appointed Minister of International Development in 2005 and also Minister of the Environment in 2007, and sat in both offices until...
both call concerned deeply recent sides stop
We are all deeply concerned with the recent escalation of violence. We call upon both sides to put a stop to the violence.
agreement both fire importance meet paramount parties start talks toward
It is of paramount importance that both parties should meet urgently and start talks toward consolidating the cease- fire agreement.
easy entire four island key major meeting religions small solved themselves time
I think there's no other place in the entire world where four major key world religions are meeting themselves on one small island and they all make up a substantial part of the population. If this was easy to solve, it would have been solved a long time back.
april geneva meet parties strongly urge
I strongly urge the two parties to meet in Geneva on April 19 - 21 as planned.
bad shadow
It's going from bad to worse. It's very worrying. It's a kind of shadow war.
confidence low
Confidence can only increase, but they have started at a very low level.
major peace
It's completely insane, it is a major setback for the peace process,
bring donors parties peace process ready soon support track
As soon as the parties bring the peace process back on track (...) donors will be more than ready to support them.
crucial expect geneva moment moved peace process talks time
We expect the Geneva talks to go ahead. We are at a crucial moment where the peace process can be moved forward. The time is right now.
expect geneva venue
We expect Geneva to be the venue for such a meeting.
elsewhere held
There may be a need for more meetings. They would be held in Switzerland or elsewhere in Europe.
agreed discuss high improve level meet parties positive security serious
It is very positive that the parties have agreed to meet at a high level to discuss how to improve the serious security situation.
announce swiss talk
They should not underestimate the difficulties. We have to talk to the Swiss before we can announce a date.
elements moment parties positive produce risk stop undermine utmost violence violent
The big risk are spoilers who want to produce violence to undermine this positive effort. At the moment the parties should do their utmost to stop violence, but they should not let violent elements and spoilers derail the process.