Secrecy surrounds Sri Lanka talks

Street protests against the peace process are common

By Frances Harrison in Colombo

Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim has arrived in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, to try to broker peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland.

After more than a year of efforts, Mr Solheim has still to arrange a direct meeting between the two sides - who remain divided on how to stop fighting and start talks.

Mr Solheim's mediation efforts are shrouded in secrecy because of opposition to his involvement from Sinhalese nationalists.

Erik Solheim: Rare meeting with the Tiger chief in November

Street protests against the peace process are not uncommon, with demonstrators denouncing Mr Solheim's efforts as foreign interference.

The Norwegian embassy will say only that its envoy will be having a number of meetings as normal, though it has said he is unlikely to meet the Tamil Tiger leader again on this trip.

Ceasefire

Hopes were raised when Mr Solheim had a rare meeting with the elusive rebel leader in his jungle stronghold last November.

Soon after, the Tigers offered unconditional peace talks and then declared a one-month unilateral ceasefire as a goodwill gesture.

But, within hours of the ceasefire offer, the Sri Lankan government launched a fresh offensive against the Tigers, saying it feared the rebel side would exploit any lull in the fighting to re-group.

Efforts to bring the two sides to the negotiating table are now stalled, with the government saying peace talks have to begin first and make some progress before a ceasefire, while the Tigers say a ceasefire should come first.

Mr Solheim himself says there have been some positive steps recently by both sides.

But he stresses there's no easy solution to this conflict, in which an estimated 4,000 people died in the last year alone.