Helen Olafsdottir Quotations

There is certainly less violence and less tension on the ground. Whether it's sustainable or not needs to be seen, but it's a good sign.

It is just an attempt to see if they can break the deadlock.

When are the two parties, the government and the (rebels), going to wake up? They are the parties that can put an end to violence.

We confirm that four Sea Tigers were released and handed over to the LTTE.

There is a lot of hope for the best. But if the two parties fail to resolve the venue issue and a way for talks, we will see a worse escalation in the violence.

We cannot rule out that it was someone trying to scare us away. We are not pulling out -- it would send a strong message that if anyone threw a firecracker in our direction we would leave.

First reports from the army only mentioned a hand grenade explosion, but our monitors found while in the hospital that they had been shot behind the ears execution style.

There was a hand grenade lobbed at our office around midnight and it landed in a parking area and damaged three cars.

The situation could have spun out of control and the international community is working very hard to convince both parties that war is not an option.

Already people are dying in large numbers, so the situation is unacceptable and there is no way we can continue like this. The parties need to work their way out of the deadlock instead of speculating and pondering over why and who carried out the attacks.

It seems that violence and killings has dropped significantly in the last few days, and although we want to remain cautious, we still have noticed a trend downward and certainly we have noticed less tension in the surrounding districts.

It's imperative that something positive comes out of the negotiations in Geneva. The cease-fire agreement serves as the basis for a permanent peace settlement.

It was part of the agreement. The rebels should have read the clauses carefully. We are frustrated.

There's too much violence on the ground, culminating in the claymore attack today, making it too difficult to work.

The international community believes the Tigers are behind the majority of the attacks on security forces.

Initial reports from the L.T.T.E. indicated one of their vessels were involved in an incident at sea, but they later said they had no involvement.