Solheim Summarizes Sri Lanka In His Autobiography

By Johan Mikaelsson -March 3, 2014

Johan Mikaelsson

A handful of books published in 2013 increase the understanding of Sri Lanka. Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim’s autobiography is highly interesting in this context. For ten years Solheim was in the middle of the quest for peace in Sri Lanka, which was shot in shreds.

Erik Solheim is a guest in the highly popular Friday evening talk show “Skavlan”, broadcasted in both Norway and Sweden. Solheim tells the story about his unexpected career shift to talk show host Fredrik Skavlan—how he hastily and less amusingly left politics when he was not given a new ministerial post when the government was reorganized early 2012.

His son eventually said something which made the recent events sink in.

– Dad, you did a great job, but they are the ones deciding.

After having violated all the usual norms in Norwegian politics and openly expressed dissatisfaction over the dismissal, Erik Solheim now seems to be in full harmony. Since January 1, 2013 he is the Chair of OECD DAC, one of 250 committees in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD is an organization with 34 member countries, all democratic and industrialised. The Committee which Solheim handles work to improve the co-ordination of international aid efforts.

He laughs, makes jokes and gives quick answers to all questions.       Read More