Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Boucher to visit Jaffna today

COLOMBO: The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher arrived in Colombo yesterday afternoon on a three day official visit.

The main feature of his visit, termed as one of his 'regular visits' to his assigned-countries by the US Embassy in Colombo, will be a trip to Jaffna, his first to the north of the country, to inspect the ground situation first hand.

Boucher will be flown to Jaffna today by the Air Force where he will meet Security Forces personnel, civil society leaders and Government officials to discuss the Human Rights, humanitarian situation and development issues.

The visiting US envoy met Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama at Trans Asia Hotel last night.

His line up of Colombo engagements include a separate meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa where the envoy is expected to be briefed on the issues concerning the peace process, human rights and development of the recently liberated Eastern province. Boucher will also meet Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

He will also meet the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) Chairman Prof.Tissa Vitharana to get an insight into the APRC's progress to evolve a political solution to the North-East conflict.

The US envoy is also tipped to chair a meeting of the Colombo based diplomatic Heads of the Co-Chairs Norway, Japan, US and the European Union.

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