Colombo: Sri Lanka's peace talks will shift from Thailand to a European capital next month due to ill-health of chief Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) negotiator Anton Balasingham, official sources said on January 22.

The next round of direct negotiations was due to be held near the Thai capital Bangkok from February 7 to 10, but now it would shift to a European capital, they said, adding the talks could be reduced to two days.

The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had agreed to the new venue, which is expected to be officially announced shortly, they said.

The sources said the shift to Europe was prompted by the deteriorating medical condition of Balasingham, the 64-year-old London-based chief LTTE negotiator who is a diabetic patient with a kidney transplant.

Although Balasingham is based in London, talks cannot be held there because Britain banned the LTTE as a foreign terrorist organisation in 2001, they said.

Last month's talks were held in the Norwegian capital Oslo because the December dates coincided with the Thai King's birthday celebrations and the Thai authorities were unable to host the parleys.

The February round will be the fifth for the two sides since the start of their face- to-face talks at Sattahip in Thailand on September 16.

The latest development also raised doubts about the March talks scheduled to be held in Japan. The Japanese government had invited the two sides to hold their six round of talks at a venue near Tokyo.

PTI