Sri Lanka: Solheim flies out

The Norwegian special envoy, Erik Solheim, has left Sri Lanka after his latest attempt to revive the island's stalled peace process.

Mr Solheim saw the president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, but there are no reports as to how their talks went.

He also had meetings with other political leaders in the capital, Colombo. Earlier this week President Kumaratunga said her government would be willing to implement a ceasefire, if Tamil Tiger rebels agreed to begin talks to end the war -- it was her first public response to a unilateral ceasefire declared by the rebels last month. The conflict in Sri Lanka has killed four thousand people in the past year alone.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service