Colombo, Aug 03: France could host a new round peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers rebels, a report said today. The talks, which have been stalled since April 21 when the tigers pulled out, are now likely to resume after behind the scenes efforts by Norwegian facilitators, ‘The Sunday Times’ newspaper here said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suspended their participation in the talks saying the government had failed to deliver on promises made at six rounds of negotiations held since September in Bangkok, Oslo, Berlin and Tokyo.

The guerrillas said the establishment of an interim council for war-ravaged areas was a pre-condition for ending the deadlock in the peace process and resuming discussions aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed.

On July 17 the government formally presented a set of proposals to set up a provisional administrative structure granting political, administrative and financial authority to the LTTE, which the rebels are considering.

The newspaper said that the LTTE were to meet with their legal advisors in Paris soon to discuss the interim power-sharing deal.

Bureau Report