Tigers ask Norway to break ice for talks

COLOMBO, Thursday (AFP)

The LTTE yesterday asked peace broker Norway to help end the deadlock in the peace process amid a renewed outbreak of internecine clashes.

Norway's special peace envoy Trond Furuhovde met with the political wing leader of the LTTE, S. P. Thamilselvan, in a bid to lift the impasse in the troubled peace process.

"We stand firmly committed to restart talks first on the implementation of the ceasefire and the government must respond to the Norwegian initiative to break the ice," Thamilselvan said in a statement after their talks.

Oslo sent Furuhovde to meet separately with the two sides after failing to arrange face-to-face talks to salvage a truce which came under new pressure when foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was shot dead in August.

Last week, Norway ruled out early direct talks between the Tigers and the Government over the ceasefire which went into effect from February 23, 2002.

Diplomatic sources said fresh clashes between the Tigers and a breakaway faction in the island's troubled eastern regions had added to the tensions.

"We are ... concerned about the violence and killings that take place in military occupied areas, meticulously manipulated by elements with a political agenda," Thamilselvan said.