Petersen headed for the island’s devastated southeastern Hambantota district after holding hour-long talks with President Chandrika Kumaratunga on his arrival in Colombo Friday morning.

The Norwegian embassy said Petersen, accompanied by Minister for International Development Hilde Johnson, was touring affected areas ”to gain a first hand impression on how relief work is proceeding.”

The Norwegian government has granted 183 million dollars to relief efforts in countries battered by the December 26 tsunamis, with Sri Lanka one of the main recipients.

On his arrival in Hambantota, which was pulverised by the December 26 tsunamis, Petersen spent time at a Buddhist temple and Muslim mosque speaking to those who escaped the deluge of seawater but who lost homes and families.

He also walked around the wreckage of the local market, public library and main shopping areas before holding talks with local community and religious leaders, according to an AFP photographer on the scene.

Petersen is to visit Saturday the equally-devastated town of Mullaitivu in northern Sri Lanka, under the control of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a Norwegian official said.

He then moves into peacemaking mode with talks in the rebel capital Kilinochchi with Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran as part of efforts to revive the Norwegian-brokered peace process.

Ahead of the meeting, the Tiger’s London-based chief negotiator Anton Balasingham arrived Friday in Colombo and was taken by air force helicopter to Kilinochchi, a rebel source told AFP.

“He arrived by air force helicopter. I took photos of him,” the source said by telephone from Kilinochchi.

Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and special envoy Erik Solheim arrived in the country earlier in the week to prepare the ground for the rare meeting.

Three days before the tsunami tragedy, the elusive Tiger leader rejected Colombo’s latest proposal to revive talks and Sri Lanka appeared on the brink of returning to war.

Prabhakaran had announced in November that his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam might resume its “freedom struggle” unless Colombo agreed to end the impasse in peace talks, stalled since April 2003.

Diplomats had said the tsunamis, which lashed much of the island’s coastline, killing almost 31,000 people, could push the warring parties to the table in the face of the unprecedented calamity, but control over international aid has in fact heightened tensions.

The rebels and government troops have been observing a truce Norway arranged in February 2002 but peace talks have remained deadlocked since April 2003. Attempts by Norway since then have failed to break the impasse.

There is disagreement over an agenda for future talks, with the Tigers demanding the government agree to negotiations based on their plan for interim self-rule.

The government insists discussions on interim arrangements must be accompanied by talks on a final peace deal.