Norway fails to break the deadlock between the government and the LTTE

Sri Lanka's peace broker Norway has failed to secure an agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels to resume talks with the Colombo government, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's office said.







Sri Lanka's peace broker Norway has failed to secure an agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels to resume talks with the Colombo government, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's office said. Norway's top envoy Vidar Helgesen told Kumaratunga on Wednesday that no accord had been reached with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on a proposed agenda to reopen talks that have been suspended since April last year.

"Helgesen briefed the president on his discussion with S. P. Thamilselvan of the LTTE ... indicating that there was no agreement on the proposed agenda for the commencement of the direct negotiations between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE," the president's office said in a statement.

It added, however, that the LTTE had made it clear it remained committed to the Oslo-brokered ceasefire which has been in place since February 2002.

"The president indicated to Helgesen that her government is willing and keen to commence negotiations on an interim authority within th