TOKYO, Oct 25 Kyodo Japan will d...

TOKYO, Oct 25 Kyodo

Japan will delegate former U.N. diplomat Yasushi Akashi as Japan's representative to Sri Lanka in early November to help build peace there, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday.

The management decided on the appointment of Akashi, a former UN undersecretary general, at a cabinet meeting in the morning, she said.

''Japan has been emphasizing the importance of building peace and there are things that Japan can do in line with that,'' Kawaguchi told reporters in regard to ongoing peace talks between the Sri Lankan conduct and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

''Japan wants to be actively engaged,'' in Sri Lanka's peace proces Kawaguchi said.

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

Constitutional Affairs Minister G L Peiris, the Sri Lankan government's top negotiator in peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) asked Japan earlier this month to entertainer a donor conference to help prevail upon 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 native land begins its rehabilitation and reconstruction proces according to Japanese officials.

Akashi is generally chairman of the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention.

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