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DUBLIN, Friday, (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels ended five days of internal talks in Ireland yesterday which have focused on a power-sharing plan ahead of a final peace deal for the embattled South Asian island, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said.

The talks in County Wicklow, south of Dublin, have not directly involved Irish officials, Cowen said in a written answer to a parliamentary question.

The latest internal talks involving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), follow a similar round in Paris in August to discuss the ongoing Sri Lankan peace process. The Tigers had made the setting up of an interim administrative structure a pre-condition to return to negotiations they suspended in April after accusing the Sri Lankan government of failing to deliver on promises made at six rounds of talks since September last year.

In advance of this week's talks, Cowen met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando at the UN in September.

Cowen said 28 people were involved in the talks that were "intended to give the LTTE an opportunity" to consider Sri Lankan government proposals.

The LTTE delegation involves 11 negotiators and support staff.

Two Sri Lankan government civil servants had addressed the participants as well as a number of international academics, legal and constitutional experts.

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