Balasingham to arrive in Kilinochchi on Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 15:13 GMT]
Mr. Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and his wife Adele Balasingham will arrive in Kilinochchi Monday morning between 9 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. and will be received by Head of LTTE Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan, LTTE officials in Kilinochchi said. A Norwegian Embassy official will accompany the Balasinghams in a Norwegian Embassy facilitated transport in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter, LTTE sources said.

Mr and Mrs Balasingham left United Kingdom Sunday and is expected to arrive in Colombo early morning Monday.

Minister of International Development in the new Norwegian Government and peace envoy, Erik Solheim, will also be arriving in Colombo sometime Monday for his scheduled visit lasting three days.

Mr Balasingham is expected to meet LTTE Leader Pirapakaran prior to the anticipated meeting between the LTTE Leader and Erik Solheim.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Burns, the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs arrived in Colombo on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka. He will meet with Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and with Eric Solheim during his stay, diplomatic sources in Colombo said.