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Norway moves afresh to revive Lankan peace bid

AFP, Colombo
Peace broker Norway is set for a fresh attempt to revive Sri Lanka's faltering peace process after a string of setbacks threatened to return the island to war, officials and diplomats said Sunday.
Norwegian diplomats were due to hold talks with the London-based top Tamil Tiger negotiator, Anton Balasingham, on moves to end the deadlock in the peace process, diplomatic sources said.
On Friday, Balasingham demanded a "radical overhaul" of the entire peace process and rejected Sri Lanka's latest overtures to revive talks.
Balasingham said he would take up the matter with the Norwegians, who were invited by both parties to "facilitate" talks and arrange a ceasefire that has been in place since February 2002.
"There was some concern at one point that the Tigers were not interested in Norwegian facilitation, but
the recent statements have indicated that they still envisage a role for Oslo," a diplomatic source here said.
Officials said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is visiting London from Sunday was also likely to hold talks with Norwegians involved in the peace process.
The Sunday Leader newspaper here said Colombo's chief negotiator G. L. Peiris was in London with the prime minister and the two were expected to hold talks with Norwegian deputy foreign minister Vidar Helgesen.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Friday rejected Wickremesinghe's offer of political power and said it wanted the peace agenda "redefined."
Balasingham said the prime minister failed to give details of a proposed interim administrative council. The rebels were, however, unwilling to spell out how it should be set up.
The Norwegian-brokered talks have remained deadlocked since April following the LTTE demand of an interim council with political powers ahead of a final settlement to a conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.
Official sources said they expected the government to come up with a fresh draft of an interim administrative council shortly and that the next two weeks would be crucial.
Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, held talks with the LTTE's political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan Wednesday in the northern Wanni region and the proposed interim administration was discussed.
The main opposition People's Alliance of President Chandrika Kumaratunga said the government was making one offer after the other to appease the Tigers but there were no signs of a "clear policy."