Fresh moves to revive Lanka talks

Fresh diplomatic moves are underway to revive Sri Lanka's stalled peace process with Tamil guerrillas as a former Norwegian diplomat was set to return to play a new role in getting back the guerrillas to the negotiating table.

Japan is to play a key diplomatic role in trying to attract the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the peace talks while the Norwegians are making their own effort to get the peace process back on track.

Japanese Ambassador in Colombo Seiichiro Otsuka is due to leave either today or tomorrow for a meeting with the LTTE's political wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan in the guerrilla-held Wanni, while Japan's special envoy to Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi is due to arrive in the coming few weeks for talks with the guerrillas.

The state run Observer newspaper said that moves to resume the stalled peace talks with the offer of a new proposal for the North-East interim council is expected to gather momentum with the arrival of former Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Jon Westborg this week.

Westborg in his new role as special envoy will hold talks with the LTTE hierarchy in Vanni and will remain in Colombo until the new proposal for a North-East interim council is handed over to the LTTE, the paper said.

The government is set to send it proposals for an interim administration within the next week.

The details of the proposal are being kept under wraps but a top level team including the Attorney General C. Kamalasabey-san is currently involved in preparing the proposal with a legal frame work on the North-East interim council.

Meanwhile, the resumption of peace talks that now hinges on the former presenting concrete proposals for an "interim administrative structure" to the latter, may see the emergence of new faces and a new format, The Sunday Times newspaper said.

Tiger guerrilla sources say ailing chief negotiator Anton Balasingham may give way to political wing chief S.P. Thamilselvan, a confidant of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, the paper said.

Government's own negotiators acknowledge that Balasingham, an acute diabetic who has undergone a kidney transplant, had been phasing out his involvement in the negotiating process.

They point out that he declined in the past weeks to come to Wanni for consultations with guerrilla leaders. He had instead sought documented briefs delivered to London from Wanni to formulate official documents to the government, Norwegian facilitators and statements to the media, the paper said.

Thamilselvan is regarded by government negotiators as a "hardliner with a serious approach" as against Balasingham, who is "more suave, accommodative and pragmatic."

Despite what is being described as a "phased withdrawal" from the negotiating process, Balasingham will continue to serve as a "resource person," a guerrilla source was quoted as saying.