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Peace talks begin today

From Rodney Martinesz in Hakone and Agency reports

The sixth round of peace talks between the Government and the LTTE is all set for today with the last of the delegates arriving at the picturesque venue of the Prince Hotel 89 kilometers West of Tokyo late yesterday evening after a flight delay.

The four-day negotiations are due to begin behind closed doors this afternoon with a customary photo session at which the two sides are expected to shake hands in the presence of Norwegian diplomats.

The talks itself were in doubt after the Sri Lanka Navy sank an LTTE vessel off the Mullaithivu coast last week.

However the intervention of Norwegian Foreign Minister Vidar Helgessen ensured there would be no hiccups in the hitherto smooth passage of the peace talks.

Mullaithivu incident is expected to figure prominently in today's opening session with the LTTE billed to issue a strong condemnation of the attack in which 11 of their men were killed.

Chief Government negotiator Prof. G.L. Peiris arrived in Tokyo on the 16th ahead of the his counterpart in the LTTE, Dr. Anton Balasingham and the rest of the LTTE delegation whose Singapore Airlines flight was delayed by three hours at the Narita Airport.

The current round of talks which would also focus on the speedy implementation of the decisions taken at the Berlin talks on human rights issues is seen as crucial ahead of the upcoming donor conference in Japan.

Human rights and issues relating to revenue sharing under a federal set up were to be discussed here under a tentative agenda set up by the facilitators.

Sri Lanka navy's sinking last week of a rebel Tamil Tiger merchant ship suspected of smuggling weapons is expected to make this round of talks the toughest ever.

Diplomats said they expected stormier negotiations after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) announced at the weekend that they would use the talks to protest the sinking of one of their merchant vessels with the loss of 11 rebel lives, the AFP news agency reported.

"It is better for them to talk, thrash it out and even storm out of the room without going back to war," a diplomat involved in the talks said. "The challenge is to keep the parties talking."

Norwegian diplomats want more weight given to preparing a common approach to a bigger aid conference Japan is calling in June to drum up international financial support to rebuild Sri Lanka.

Oslo is keen that the two parties move towards strengthening their ceasefire to avoid further incidents that could undermine the fledgling peace process.

The Japanese hosts have imposed tight security for the talks, the sixth round between the two antagonists since the first formal face-to-face contact in September, organisers said.

Unlike previous rounds, delegates will not be able to mingle freely with journalists before a formal concluding press conference on Friday.

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