Friday, September 22 2006 15:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: The Norwegian peace facilitators in Sri Lanka's stalled peace process are making another attempt to get the Government and the rebels to resume direct negotiations, diplomatic sources said. Hans Brattskar, the Norwegian ambassador, left for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-held Kilinochchi district in the Northern province for a meeting with the rebel political leadership. The Norwegian envoy is to have talks with the head of the LTTE's political wing, S.P. Thamilselvan, on the Sep 12 statement issued by the nations forming co-chairs of the Sri Lankan peace process - the US, the EU, Japan and Norway. The co-chairs called on the LTTE and Colombo to cease all violence immediately and meet in the Norwegian capital of Oslo to revive the stalled negotiations. It blamed the rebels and the government of resorting to ground military operation in defiance of calls from the international community to kick-start the peace process. Coinciding with the co-chairs statement, the Norwegian Minister for International Development Erik Solheim announced that the parties had agreed to meet in Oslo early October. The government however denied any such agreement on dates. Diplomatic sources said that Brattskar would look for a positive response from the rebels to the Norwegian offer to have the parties urgently back on the negotiating table. Since late July, the government and the LTTE have been engaging in military offensives both in the Northern and the Eastern provinces. The fighting was the worst since the February 2002 ceasefire. Both sides accuse each other of violating the Norwegian backed accord. The military has been able to gain an upper hand in the clashes with the LTTE making withdrawals in the face of troops advance. The escalating violence has caused the displacement over 200,000 civilians triggering a large-scale humanitarian crisis.