Colombo: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage arrived in Colombo on August
22 for a visit Sri Lankan officials see as a boost to the current Norwegian-backed
peace bid with Tamil Tiger rebels.
After arriving in Colombo early on August 22, he immediately left for the embattled
Northern Jaffna peninsula.
He is scheduled to hold talks back in Colombo on August 22 night with Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe, who last month visited Washington and won assurances of
support for his government's bid to end three decades of bloodshed.
Armitage is the most senior US diplomat to tour Sri Lanka since the April 1998 visit
of then energy secretary Bill Richardson.
He is expected to nudge Colombo and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) to seek an early end to the conflict which has claimed more than 60,000
lives, diplomats said.
They said although Armitage is not meeting top LTTE leaders during his 22-hour
visit, his mere presence in the former rebel heartland of Jaffna is seen as a strong
signal to Tigers.
"His visit to Jaffna sends a powerful message to the LTTE," a government official
said earlier in the week. "The US supports a solution that does not break up Sri
Lanka into two countries."
Armitage was due to call on the Roman Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas
Saundranayagam, and meet four academics in Jaffna where he would also tour areas are
being de-mined with US support.
The LTTE ran Jaffna as a de facto separate state for nearly five years until they
were driven out by government forces in December 1995.
US assistant secretary of state for South Asia Christina Rocca visited Jaffna in
March and told reporters that the United States was moving to increase military co-
operation with Sri Lanka.
Washington has also warned the Tigers that the international coalition against
terrorism may be extended to cover their actions unless they sincerely engaged in
the ongoing Oslo-backed peace process.
Norway announced last week that both sides had agreed to start formal face-to-face
talks at a venue in Thailand between September 12 and 17.
