Sri Lanka seeks to kick-start peace

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Clinging on to power via a deal with a minority Marxist party the Sri Lankan government is making moves towards resuming peace talks in a bid to end the country's 18-year-long civil war.

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is scheduled to hold talks on Monday with the Norwegian Ambassador to discuss ways of kick-starting the stalled peace process.

Norway has been acting as mediator in the conflict for the past two years.

The meeting, to be held in the Sri Lankan capital, follows the signing last week of a survival pact between the government and the Marxist JVP designed to prop up the minority rule of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

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However, observers say any renewed government effort is likely to receive a cool response from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) whose long-running war for a separate Tamil homeland has cost more than 60,000 lives.

In a statement last week the Tigers described the government as corrupt, inefficient and unstable, having battled for the past three months to save itself from collapse after a series of parliamentary defections.

On top of that, observers say, the government offer is coming from a position of weakness on the battlefield following a number of successful rebel offensives.

Airport attack

The government has been under growing public pressure to resume the peace process since July this year when the Tigers launched a surprise attack on the country's only international airport.

Although the rebels were eventually pushed back, the raid dramatically raised the stakes in the Sri Lankan conflict -- signaling both the Tigers' enhanced capabilities and their ability to attack a vital economic target.

The financial fallout is still being felt with tourist arrivals plummeting by more than 90 percent.

The Norwegian-brokered peace process has been stalled much of this year with little sign from either side they are willing to resume face-to-face talks.

The government's deal with the JVP also raises questions over how far it is willing or able to go in laying the groundwork for possible negotiations.

According to the deal signed with the JVP leadership last week the government agreed there should be no offer to devolve power ahead of negotiations.

The Marxists, who are firmly opposed to Norway's involvement in any peace talks, have also insisted that the rebels give up demands for a separate Tamil state and recognize Sri Lanka's sovereignty before talks can be held.

Ceasefire considered

The government says such a stance does not preclude talks with the rebels -- a position disputed by the JVP leadership who has warned that any moves to open talks would undermine any agreement with Kumaratunga's Peoples' Alliance.

Furthermore, following the airport attack and a series of other bruising raids, the government says it is willing to consider its own unilateral ceasefire, although it would prefer a mutually agreed halt to the fighting.

However, the Tigers have rejected such talk so far, describing the offer as "political duplicity" designed to divert attention from its shaky political position.

They have also said they will refuse to deal with what is essentially a minority government.

The Tigers, who have repeatedly said that a truce must precede peace talks, declared their own unilateral ceasefire in December last year, describing it as a foundation to start peace talks.

In return they demanded that the government legalize their organization -- a move that would put Colombo at risk of a political backlash from hardline nationalist parties -- and halt all military offensives.

However, government forces continued to target Tiger positions saying the ceasefire was just an excuse for the rebels to regroup and rearm.

In April the ceasefire was bought to a bloody conclusion with an assault -- codenamed "fireball" -- on the Jaffna peninsula that ended with government troops forced into a hasty retreat by a Tiger counter-offensive.

More than 250 soldiers died and hundreds more were injured.

Five months down the track and facing a politically and military weaker position the government now acknowledges that that move may have been a mistake.

Announcing the renewed talks with Norwegian envoys Sunday, Foreign Minister Kadirgamar told state TV he believed fireball was a "very regrettable" operation, which had proved a setback to the peace process.