New envoy is to meet President Rajapaksa and LTTE leaders

Jon Hanssen-Bauer has had discussions with Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and officials from Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat (SCOPP).

SCOPP officials refused to reveal details of the discussions.

The new envoy is to arrange the next round of talks between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, to be held in two weeks' time in Switzerland.

He was scheduled to meet President Rajapaksa on Tuesday but the meeting has been postponed until after he comes back from Kilinochchi.

Tamil Tigers confirmed that the envoy is to meet LTTE leadership in Kilinochchi on Wednesday.

	Bauer replaces Solheim(L) as special envoy on Sri Lanka

Bauer was appointed last month as the special envoy replacing Erik Solheim, who was earlier appointed as the Norwegian Minister for International Development following an election victory.

Solheim is to join Hanssen-Bauer on Thursday for talks with the President.

Norwegian Embassy spokesman in Colombo said the new envoy would not interact directly with media during his term in office.

The visit comes after President Mahinda Rajapaksa's party won a landslide victory in local elections last week.

The result was widely seen as an endorsement of the president's peace negotiations with the rebels.

Sinhala nationalist parties opposed to the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed with the rebels in 2002 fared badly in the polls.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), who supports Rajapaksa but campaigned separately only secured a single council, while the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) failed to win any local body.