Norway on Tuesday began a new bid to forge lasting peace between Tamil Tiger rebels and the Sri Lankan government, but diplomats played down hopes of an imminent return to the negotiating table. Special peace envoy Erik Solheim met civic leaders in Colombo, preparing for the arrival of Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen and Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen on Wednesday.
The three are due to meet reclusive Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in the rebel-held north on Thursday, but Petersen issued a statement last week saying he did not have high expectations and wanted to keep engaging both sides.
"We don't expect big things to happen," said one diplomat involved in the peace process.
The government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Norway in 2002, after the rebels' bloody war for autonomy had killed more than 64,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
The truce is holding, but peace talks stalled last year leaving hopes of a permanent solution in limbo.
The two sides are deadlocked over the rebels' central demand for interim self rule in vast tracts of the war-torn north and east that they control and analysts don't expect talks to resume for months at best.
Tamil Tiger chief peace negotiator Anton Balasingham has flown to the rebel's northern stronghold of Kilinochchi to attend the talks with Prabhakaran, who lives in hiding and is rarely seen in public.
Balasingham is due on Wednesday to inaugurate the rebels' first law school in Kilinochchi, where the Tigers already have their own courts, shops, police and taxation system.
The Norwegian visit follows a failed bid to kick-start talks by Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi, who left Sri Lanka last week saying he was "concerned about the lack of visible progress".
It also comes after a spate of killings in Sri Lanka's east, many of the victims vocal opponents of the Tigers. The military blames the killings on the rebels, who are feuding with a breakaway faction.
The Tigers, on the United States' list of banned terrorist organisations along with groups such as al Qaeda, deny any hand in the deaths, but donor patience is wearing thin.
Donor nations led by Japan last year pledged $4.5 billion in aid to Sri Lanka, and while some aid has been released, it is conditional on progress in the peace process.
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