Japanese peace envoy arrives in Sri Lanka

Japan's special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi has arrived in Sri Lanka among escalating violence in the island country, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

Akashi arrived at the Colombo International Airport at around 10:50 p.m. local time (1720 GMT) on Tuesday, officials added.

He is to visit Sri Lanka's northern town of Jaffna on Thursday to attend a two-day inter-religious summit and make a special address.

The two-day event is aimed at finding ways to settle Sri Lanka's increasingly violent conflict through peaceful means, officials said.

Akashi, a former U.N. Under-Secretary General was appointed by the Japanese government in October 2002 to underwrite Sri Lanka's Norwegian backed peace process between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

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