Colombo: In a bid to save the Norwegian-brokered peace process, Sri Lanka on June 16 said it would offer more concessions to Tamil Tiger rebels and said there was no risk of the country slipping back to war.

Sri Lanka's chief peace negotiator G L Peiris said the government was shortly presenting a basic outline of a structure that it wants to put in place in the island's embattled North East until a final settlement is reached.

However, details of the structure will not be announced publicly as the government expects input from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before going public with it, Peiris told reporters in Colombo.

He said the government was also ready to appoint "one or two" special commissioners to handle urgent reconstruction and rehabilitation needs in the island's embattled North East pending the establishment of an interim structure to carry out the work.

Here again, the government would finalise detailed functions of the special commissioners after consultations with the LTTE, Peiris said.

The offer was an effort to end the impasse in peace talks and have the negotiating process back on track, he said.

"It is necessary that the parties talk to each other to carry the process forward," Peiris said. "These are not matters that can be discussed through correspondence. We need to have a face-to-face dialogue."

PTI