Monday, May 29 2006 17:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tiger rebels today(May 29, 2006) said they will go to Oslo to discuss the future role of Scandinavian truce monitors as the European Union was set to ban the guerrilla outfit.

The Tigers will send representatives for a two-day meeting starting June 8 in Oslo, the rebel's political wing leader S P Thamilselvan told the Nitharsanam.Com website.

"Our leadership has accepted Norway's invitation to attend the talks in Oslo," the Nitharsanam.Com quoted Thamilselvan as saying.

"Although we accepted the invitation, transport arrangements and safety of LTTE members attending the talks have not been finalised as yet," Thamilselvan said. "The Norwegian facilitators have taken the full responsibility of making such arrangements."

The invitation was given both to the Tigers and the Sri Lankan government last week. The matter was discussed Saturday during a meeting between Norwegian envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer and Thamilselvan.

Government sources said Colombo's participation was subject to the Tigers accepting the invitation.

The meeting in Oslo is to discuss the role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) which last week wanted to boost its numbers by 15 to 75 monitors.

Their request for additional personnel comes after the SLMM said the lives of its observers had been endangered in a May 11 sea battle off northern Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the European Union is set to slap a ban on the Tigers and an announcement could be made shortly, Europan diplomats said.