The Sri Lankan government said Friday that it had not requested the United Nations to take over the peace facilitation role from Norway in its conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

Nimal Siripala De Silva, the Minister of Health and the government spokesman, told reporters here that a visit by Kofi Annan's special envoy early this week was not meant to probe the possibility of ousting Norway.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy, was on a fact-finding mission in the island on government request made in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of the foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, De Silva said.

Norway has been facilitating peace with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels since the year 2000.

However their role has come under scrutiny by the majority Sinhalese nationalist groups and political parties who accuse them of being biased towards the Tigers.

Sri Lankan foreign minister Anura Bandaranaike in late August accused the Norwegians of misleading the European Union on the LTTE rebels.

Norway facilitated six rounds of direct talks with the Tigers from September 2002 until April 2003 when the Tigers announced a temporary pull out from the process.

Source: Xinhua