Envoy bids to kick start peace talks

A Norwegian peace envoy has arrived in the Sri Lankan capital to renew efforts to resume peace talks between the government and Tamil Tigers to end the country's protracted civil war.

Eric Solheim, the Norwegian envoy, will call on President Kumaratunga and may travel to the northern jungles to meet with Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam, during his two-day visit.

President Kumaratunga says she is willing to accept the Tamil Tiger rebels' demand for a ceasefire providing that the rebels show sincerity towards ending the 17-year-old ethnic conflict that has killed more than 63,000 people.

The LTTE says a ceasefire should precede peace talks with the government.

The president said: "My government has consistently said, and we say even now, we are willing to affect a cease-fire, but a cease-fire without an agreement from the LTTE to enter into serious negotiations ... is pointless."

Mr Solheim is the only non-Sri Lankan official who has met Prabhakaran in the past 12 years. He traveled to a rebel hide-out in the northern jungles in November for the meeting.

The envoy is trying to bring the representatives of the Sri Lankan government and the rebels to the negotiating table after a gap of more than five years.

The LTTE has been fighting for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamils since 1983. The Tamils accuse the majority Sinhalese, who number 18.6 million, of widespread discrimination in education and jobs.

The rebels announced a month-long unilateral truce, beginning on Christmas Day, to boost the peace process.

But the government spurned it and launched a fresh offensive against the guerrillas. The government says it cannot trust the rebels because they violated a 1995 cease-fire accord.