Norway's special envoy on Sri Lanka's peace process Jon Hanssen-Bauer visited the rebels in the north Wednesday.

This was his first time since he assumed his role.

Defense officials in the capital said that Hanssen-Bauer departed here in the morning to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-held Kilinochchi district to meet with the rebel political leaders.

Hanssen-Bauer who was appointed last month was visiting Sri Lanka to familiarize himself on the current status of the fragile peace process ahead of talks in Geneva later this month between the LTTE and the government, Norwegian diplomatic sources said.

Meanwhile, a nationalist group, the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), was hosting a press conference here slamming Hanssen-Bauer and the Norwegian peace facilitators.

Wimal Weerawansa, a member of parliament and the PNM's joint secretary said that Hanssen-Bauer in the past had worked in conflict resolution process in Sudan and in the state of Palestine.

"He is someone who had clearly helped separatism," Weerawansa slammed the new Norwegian peace envoy.

Weerawansa said the PNM would hold a massive demonstration opposite the Norwegian embassy on Friday to call for their ouster from the role of peace facilitation.

On the invitation of the Sri Lankan government, Norway took over the role of brokering peace in the island in 2000.

However, the nationalist groups have targeted the Norwegians, accusing them of bias towards the LTTE rebels.

Source: Xinhua