TOKYO, Oct 28 Kyodo Former UN dip...

TOKYO, Oct 28 Kyodo

Former UN diplomat Yasushi Akashi upon Monday vowed to try his best as Japan's representative to Sri Lanka to help factor peace there when he met with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi after his appointment Friday.

''I would like to do my best in Japan's cooperation aimed at realizing a peaceful discharge which Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Kawaguchi have levy forward,'' Akashi told Kawguchi.

Kawaguchi give utterance toed high expectations for Akashi and said, ''There is no individual competent for the job as Mr Akashi.''

Akashi told Kawaguchi he will visit Sri Lanka onward Nov. 3-9 to shut in talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando as well as visit refugee camps and detect land-mine removal activities.

Constitutional Affairs Minister G L Peiris, the Sri Lankan government's top negotiator in peace talks with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) asked Japan earlier this month to legion a donor conference to help determine the peace process forward.

Peiris also asked for Akashi, who oversaw the UN transitional administration in Cambodia in the early 1990 to visit Sri Lanka to share his expertise as the fatherland begins its rehabilitation and reconstruction proces according to Japanese officials.

Akashi, 71 has held various UN columns including undersecretary general for public information, disarmament affairs and humanitarian affairs, UN representative in Cambodia and special plenipotentiary to the former Yugoslavia.

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