Associated Press, Thu November 30, 2006 00:30 EST . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ A Norwegian peace envoy arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday for talks with government and rebel officials that would include the island's moribund peace process, a spokesman for the Norwegian embassy said.
Jon Hanssen-Bauer ``is here on a routine visit,'' embassy spokesman, Erik Nurnberg, said. ``Naturally, he will be discussing all the issues.''
Hanssen-Bauer's visit comes amid escalating violence between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that has imperiled a 2002 cease-fire and threatened to return the country to all-out war.
The Tiger's top leader earlier this week called the Oslo-brokered cease-fire ``defunct,'' but the rebels later clarified they would abide by the truce.
Hanssen-Bauer would travel to the rebels' northern stronghold early next week, Nurnberg said.
Tiger spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, said Hanssen-Bauer was scheduled to meet with the rebel leadership on Dec. 4 and that political wing chief, Suppiah Thamilselvan, would explain the rebels' aims.
Separately, the Sri Lankan military said Thursday they seized two explosive-laden jackets from an abandoned house in northern Jaffna peninsula.
Spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said besides the jackets, the military also found two rocket propelled grenades and two T-56 automatic weapons and ammunition during the search late Wednesday.
``We got a tip-off and found the explosives which were to be used against us,'' Samarasinghe said, blaming Tamil Tiger rebels for hiding the explosives.
Suicide attacks are the hallmark of the rebels, who are fighting the Sri Lankan government to create a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million ethnic Tamil minority.
Sri Lanka's open civil war stopped after the 2002 truce, but since a spike in violence this year the agreement now only exists on paper, with more than 3,500 fighters and civilians killed in assassinations, mine blasts, suicide attacks, artillery exchanges, sea battles and air strikes, according to government figures.
The government says it is willing to give autonomy to areas where Tamils are in the majority, but rebels insist on sweeping changes that the government says will infringe on the country's sovereignty.
Jon Hanssen-Bauer ``is here on a routine visit,'' embassy spokesman, Erik Nurnberg, said. ``Naturally, he will be discussing all the issues.''
Hanssen-Bauer's visit comes amid escalating violence between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that has imperiled a 2002 cease-fire and threatened to return the country to all-out war.
The Tiger's top leader earlier this week called the Oslo-brokered cease-fire ``defunct,'' but the rebels later clarified they would abide by the truce.
Hanssen-Bauer would travel to the rebels' northern stronghold early next week, Nurnberg said.
Tiger spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, said Hanssen-Bauer was scheduled to meet with the rebel leadership on Dec. 4 and that political wing chief, Suppiah Thamilselvan, would explain the rebels' aims.
Separately, the Sri Lankan military said Thursday they seized two explosive-laden jackets from an abandoned house in northern Jaffna peninsula.
Spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said besides the jackets, the military also found two rocket propelled grenades and two T-56 automatic weapons and ammunition during the search late Wednesday.
``We got a tip-off and found the explosives which were to be used against us,'' Samarasinghe said, blaming Tamil Tiger rebels for hiding the explosives.
Suicide attacks are the hallmark of the rebels, who are fighting the Sri Lankan government to create a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million ethnic Tamil minority.
Sri Lanka's open civil war stopped after the 2002 truce, but since a spike in violence this year the agreement now only exists on paper, with more than 3,500 fighters and civilians killed in assassinations, mine blasts, suicide attacks, artillery exchanges, sea battles and air strikes, according to government figures.
The government says it is willing to give autonomy to areas where Tamils are in the majority, but rebels insist on sweeping changes that the government says will infringe on the country's sovereignty.
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