COLOMBO, (AFP) - Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga offered to revive stalled peace talks with the Tamil Tigers in a message conveyed to rebels by Norway's Foreign Minister Jan Petersen, her office said.
Petersen, during late night talks with Kumaratunga Wednesday, was asked to convey the government's desire to resume direct negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the earliest, a statement said.
"The foreign minister undertook to convey the president's views to the LTTE leadership when he meets them ... and stressed that this was an opportune moment to renew direct talks between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE," the statement said.
It said Kumaratunga reiterated her commitment to maintain the Oslo-brokered truce with the Tigers, in place since February 2002, and wanted a peaceful end to a conflict which claimed over 60,000 lives between 1972 and 2002.
Petersen is being accompanied by his deputy Vidar Helgesen and special envoy Erik Solheim to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi in the island's north for the talks with LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, diplomatic sources said.
Military officials said the Norwegians travelled to the north in a military helicopter and were expected back here before sunset.
"The Norwegians have only modest expectations," a source close to the peace process said. "We are not expecting a breakthrough on resuming the direct negotiations."
Solheim arrived here ahead of Petersen's three-day visit which began Wednesday and has already met Sri Lankan leaders.
The London-based chief negotiator for the rebel Tamil Tigers, Anton Balasingham, has also returned to the island with his wife Adele, also a Tigers negotiator, ahead of the meeting with Petersen.
The Oslo-brokered peace talks between the Colombo government and the LTTE have been on hold since the guerrillas walked out in April last year.
The Colombo government has accused the Tigers of killing more than 250 of their rivals since the ceasefire went into effect.
Diplomatic sources said building trust between the two sides was a key challenge for the Norwegians.
Norway said in a statement last week the purpose of Petersen's visit was to ask the two sides "whether they wish to move towards resuming negotiations."
Petersen said in the statement that he did not have high expectations but it was important to keep engaging with the parties concerned.
The Tigers and the Colombo government held six rounds of face-to-face negotiations between September 2002 and March 2003 before the talks stalled.
The rebels said last week they had not abandoned their "right to secede" despite agreeing at the third round of talks to explore a federal solution to the conflict.
Four previous attempts to end the fighting ended in failure and led to more bloodshed.
11/11/2004 - 08:00 GMT - AFP