Norway envoys to make S.Lanka visit before talks

Colombo, Mar 30: Norwegian peace envoys will visit Sri Lanka next week ahead of a talks between the government and the Tamil Tigers, Norway said today as the rebels warned they might refuse to set a date for more talks.

Norwegian development minister Erik Solheim, who brokered the island's fragile 2002 truce and is stepping aside as Norway's special envoy for the island's peace process, will visit for one day on April 6 while new envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer will arrive on Monday for a four-day visit.

''For Mr Hanssen-Bauer, it's important because he's new to the peace process and needs to get to know the two parties ahead of the next meeting in Geneva,'' said Norwegian embassy spokesman Tom Knappskog. ''For Mr Solheim, it is to prepare the ground for the Geneva meeting.'' A string of suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacks on the military in December and January pushed the island to the edge of a new war, and although tensions fell after the two sides agreed to talk they have begun to rise again.

But disagreements remains vast, and they have not even begun to discuss Tiger demands for an ethnic Tamil homeland.

If the peace process stalls again, diplomats fear a return to violence, at worst restarting a two-decade war that has already killed more than 64,000 people on an island that is also still recovering from the 2004 tsunami.

At the weekend, a naval gunboat was sunk with the loss of eight crew after suspected Tigers blew up themselves and a trawler believed to be smuggling arms. Both sides exchange accusations of staging attacks.

STRONG MESSAGE

The Tigers say the government must disarm armed groups -- including a renegade group of ex-Tigers led by former rebel commander Karuna Amman -- who they say are now army-backed paramilitaries who are attacking the mainstream rebels.

The army denies that any armed groups operate in their territory, although truce monitors say that at best the armed forces have been turning a blind eye to their activities.

After meeting Solheim in London, Tiger chief negotiator Anton Balasingham said the rebels would not attend a second round of talks on April 19-21 unless the government guaranteed the delegation's security as they passed through Colombo, saying the Tigers had been warned paramilitary groups might attack them.

If they did attend, he said they might not agree more talks.

''Until the government brings under control the activities of these armed groups and disarms and stops all their violent attacks, we shall not give a date for a third round of talks,'' Tamil newspapers quoted him as saying from his British home. ''I told this very clearly to Mr Solheim.'' Norway said Hanssen-Bauer would meet both the government and Tigers on his trip, while Solheim would do little more than meet President Mahinda Rajapakse.

REUTERS

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