'Al-Jazeera' 13G live interview with Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs on 11^th January at 4.00 p.m. 13 GMT 

Introduction and back ground picture on the humanitarian mission and the military operation against the LTTE in the North was shown. 

Murali Reddy in Sri Lanka reporting: 

It is very difficult to say that how long this particular campaign is going to take.  One must remember that to just to reach Kilinochchi the Government campaign took twenty months  Mullaitivu of course  is not going to take that much time but it is going to be very very hard effort on the part of Sri Lankan Army to be able to penetrate and eject the  leaders out of their hide outs,  the military claims to have captured more than almost 2500 km areas in the last 20 months of its campaign but very little have been spoken about the civilians.  The civilians have been inhabiting in these areas and not come over to the government controlled areas and no body has precisely estimated about the number of civilians that have actually got stranded or displaced in these areas. 

   Commentator: We can get the very latest on the government offensive from the Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama joining me now.

Speech delivered by Dr. Palitha T. B. Kohona, Secretary/Foreign Affairs on 12 January 2009 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs                                                                   

This meeting has been convened for us to reflect on current developments in Sri Lanka, especially those relating to the efforts of the security forces to re-occupy the entirety of the territory which has been controlled by the LTTE.  You all heard the statement of H.E. the President on Friday. As we all know, the security forces have been pushing relentlessly into the Wanni and last week, there was a successful link-up at Elephant Pass between the forces stationed in Jaffna and those advancing from the South.  This was a historic event as the North-South road, the famous A-9, and the railway line was brought under the control of the Government after a lapse of many years.  While the victory on the battlefield gives us comfort and reassures us of the future direction of the country, we must also be aware of the challenges that will confront us, particularly from the perspective of this Ministry. 

We have continually reassured the international community that our goal is not simply a military victory.  Our key objective is to re-establish democracy and democratic governance throughout the country.  We have paid a heavy price to realize this objective, both in valuable lives and resources.  This will pose a difficult challenge, given the absence of adequate infrastructure in the Wanni and also the absence of an awareness of proper democratic governance.  It will be a difficult task to introduce to the Wanni what we in the rest of the country take for granted; free elections, democratic governance, freedom of choice, etc.  However, we must meet this challenge as we did in the Eastern Province.  The Eastern Province has provided a useful and successful model for us.