A flurry of international activity was underway in order to revive Sri Lanka's stalled peace bid with the Tamil Tiger rebels, a government minister said here Wednesday.

Keheliya Rambukwella, the Minister of Policy Planning and the government's defense spokesman said that the Norwegian special peace envoy was due in the island later this week in addition to the other events such as the visit to the rebel territory by the Head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a meeting here by the Colombo based Heads of diplomatic missions representing the Nordic countries.

Rambukwella said Jon Hanssen-Bauer the Norwegian special peace envoy is to arrive later this week in order to meet the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

The issue concerning the demand by the LTTE to exclude the members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) coming from Sweden, Denmark and Finland is to be taken up by Hanssen-Bauer following last week's failed attempt by the Swedish envoy Anders Oljelund on the same subject, Rambukwella said.

On the same matter the Colombo based representatives of diplomatic missions belonging to Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway were meeting here Wednesday to discuss among themselves the future of the SLMM in the light of the LTTE demand.

Thirty-seven monitors of the 57 member SLMM who come from Sweden, Denmark and Finland and the Norwegian facilitators say the Tiger request is unreasonable. The rebels claiming prejudice against them by the representatives of the three nations in the SLMM want them removed.

The Tiger request came after the decision in late May by the European Union to ban them as a terrorist organization.

The Sri Lankan government's defense spokesman said that Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has visited the LTTE held Kilinochchi district on Wednesday to meet the rebel leadership.

All such activity coming from the international community reflected its appreciation of the efforts by the government to engage the rebels in the peace negotiations, Rambukwella stressed.

The Norwegian effort to revive the stalled peace talks aimed at ending the long drawn out separatist armed conflict has faced obstacles in the form of escalating violence. Nearly 900 people have died in the upsurge since the end of 2005 blamed on both sides.

Source: Xinhua