Norwegian special peace envoy Erik Solheim arrived here late on Monday in his renewed effort to revive stalled peace process between the Sri Lankan government andthe Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.

During his stay here, Solheim will meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse to discuss issuesconcerning the resumption of the peace process.

He will also visit northern Killinochchi town held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels to hand over a message from President Kumaratunga to the rebel leadership on the resumption of the peace talks.

During Solheim's visit, the date and venue for the resumption of the peace talks are likely to be finalized, officials said.

It is the third visit of the Norwegian peace facilitators to the country since the beginning of this month.

At the invitation of Sri Lankan President Kumaratunga last month, Norway agreed to continue its role as peace facilitators intheir efforts to end the country's two-decade ethnic conflict.

The LTTE rebels pulled out of the talks with the government in April last year following six rounds of direct negotiations.

Prior to the talks which began in September 2002, the two sidesentered into a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire seven months earlier.

Source: Xinhua