Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels agreed to meet in Geneva on February 22 for two days of talks, ending a three-year deadlock in negotiations, peace broker Norway announced Monday.
"The parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka, the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have asked Norway to facilitate talks in Geneva from February 22 to 23," the Norwegian embassy said in a statement.
The announcement came after Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim met the London-based chief negotiator of the Tigers, Anton Balasingham, to arrange a date for talks to salvage a truce that came into effect in February 2002.
"The parties will discuss how they can improve the implementation of the cease-fire agreement...," the statement said. "This is the first time in three years that the parties meet face-to-face at such a high level."
Solheim said he will lead Norway's own team at the talks that will be attended by a four-member team headed by Balasingham on the Tiger side and Sri Lanka's Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva representing Colombo.
"The parties are taking a small but very significant step towards putting the peace process back on a positive track. And we expect the negotiations to be tough," Solheim said.
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