Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse visited Vakarai in the Eastern Province, former stronghold of Tamil Tiger, on Saturday, a senior presidential official said.

Chandrapala Liyanage, Rajapakse's Director General for Media, said that the president, along with the military chiefs, landed at Vakarai and Sampur, both former rebel holds, on mid-morning Saturday and addressed troops.

He thanked the troops for gaining control of the holds from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and said that action to gain territory was part of his pledge to unify the island.

Rajapakse said that he would bring in a political package to address the grievances of the Tamil minority and would invite the LTTE to enter the negotiation process.

Vakarai and Sampur were both under LTTE control for over a decade and the LTTE's fleeing from Vakarai last month came after the fall of Sampur in early September 2006.

The president, who is also the commander-in-chief of the troops, said the government had a plan to resettle over 40,000 civilians who had fled Vakarai in the face of military advance.

The resettlement program would commence right after the de- mining of the area.

The battles in the east were part of the violence which escalated in December 2005.

Over 3900 people were killed in the violence, drawing strong pleas from the international community on both sides to get back to the Norwegian backed direct talks.

The two sides met in Geneva last February and October for two times but both rounds ended inconclusively.

Source: Xinhua