Norwegian envoys to visit Sri Lanka

Norwegian envoys plan to meet with Tamil rebels and Sri Lanka's government this week in an effort to revive peace talks amid rising, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

Photo: Norwegian envoys to visit Sri Lanka

Erik Solheim, who negotiated the country's 2002 cease-fire and is now Norway's international development minister, is expected to arrive Thursday, a day after fellow peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer.

"They will talk to the parties to make them return to the table," spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told The Associated Press.

The government and the rebels held peace talks in Geneva in February for the first time in three years but a second round of negotiations scheduled for April was canceled because of a surge in fighting.

Monitors of the truce say at least 275 people have been killed in the violence since April.

The rebels have fought the government since 1983, demanding a separate Tamil homeland. More than 65,000 people were killed before the cease-fire halted 19 years of open warfare, reports the AP.

I.L.