Sri Lankan PM on landmark Tamil trip

Wickremesinghe: "I want to tell the people here that we are all equals"

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's prime minister has arrived in the northern Tamil city of Jaffna, the first such visit in two decades to the center of the country's civil war.

The last prime minister visited the battle-scarred peninsula -- a stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelmam (LTTE) -- in 1982, a year before the start of a civil war that has killed around 65,000 people.

The Tigers have been fighting for a separate state in Sri Lanka's north and east since then.

Ranil Wickremesinghe's two-day visit to the Tamil heartland is seen as a powerful symbol of the progress made by a Norwegian-peace bid that has secured a ceasefire between the government and the guerrillas.

It is also seen as key in furthering the peace process with the rebels, which Wickremesinghe set in motion after he won December parliamentary elections.

The prime minister, who signed a landmark cease-fire February 22 that should pave the way for the first peace talks in seven years, flew into the military-run Palali airpor.

"We have the popular support to end the war," Wickremesinghe said as he prepared to meet with Tamil representatives, who have long complained of discrimination from the majority Sinhalese.

Fled peninsula

The peninsula is cut off from the rest of the island by a swathe of rebel-controlled territory and is home to 500,000 Tamils, tens of thousands of whom are displaced.

Jaffna, 200 miles north of the capital Colombo, was Sri Lanka's second largest city before the war broke out in 1983. It is the center of Tamil culture and was home to many of Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamil minority.

The rebels, fighting to divide the tropical island along ethnic lines, wrested control of Jaffna in 1990. But they lost it to government troops in December 1995 after a long battle that left 2,500 dead on both sides.

The rebels have made several unsuccessful attempts since then to retake Jaffna. Today, the city and other smaller towns remain under government control, but the rebels maintain their presence in the countryside.

Wickremesinghe was expected to address 40,000 government troops stationed on the peninsula.

"I think it is quite significant that I am here and a ceasefire is in place," Wickremesinghe told Reuters reporters after his air force plane landed.

He will be joined Friday in Jaffna by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca.