Saturday, December 17 2005 19:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels today (Dec 17,2005) rejected a compromise offered by the Colombo Government to hold peace talks at an Asian venue and stressed that any negotiations must take place in peace broker Norway's capital.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said that the offer of talks at an Asian venue was not acceptable to them.

The move was also seen here as a snub to Japan which six days ago offered to host the talks in Tokyo after Government climbed down from its hard-line and said it was 'amenable'to holding negotiations overseas although it had initially insisted that discussions should be held within the island.

"There is no change in our position with regard to the venue for talks and we stand by the Norwegian facilitator's original suggestion that the talks on effective implementation of the ceasefire takes place in Oslo," LTTE's political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan said.

In a statement posted on their peace secretariat website, Thamilselvan said the primary task of any fresh talks must be to ensure 'effective implementation of the ceasefire with a view to arresting the accelerating trend of violence in the military occupied areas.'

The Sri Lankan Government called for talks with the Tigers to review their truce after the August 12 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Colombo blamed the Tigers, a claim rejected by the guerrillas.

Peace talks between the two sides remain deadlocked since April 2003 and diplomatic efforts since to resume a dialogue remain inconclusive.