COLOMBO, July 28: The Sri Lankan government said on Sunday it had held face-to-face talks in London with Tamil Tiger rebels ahead of formal peace negotiations in Thailand.

Minister of Economic Reform Milinda Moragoda, one of two ministers picked by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to pursue the Norwegian-sponsored peace process, met with the Tigers’ chief negotiator Anton Balasingham in London on Saturday, a government statement said.

It was the first ministerial-level meeting the Sri Lankan government has held with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since the two sides signed an indefinite ceasefire agreement on February 22.

Wickremesinghe, in a televised speech about his visit last week to the United States, said Moragoda had told him “that his meeting in London augured well for the talks” in Thailand.

A government statement said the London talks “covered a variety of issues regarding the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and preparations for direct negotiations in Thailand, including the agenda.”

Official sources said peace talks were expected in Thailand in August or September.

The negotiations had been expected earlier in the summer, but the sources said the government and Tigers first wanted to ensure that the memorandum of understanding setting out the ceasefire was being fully implemented.

Norway has been trying to broker talks between the two sides to end three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has claimed more than 60,000 lives. The Tigers have been fighting for a homeland called “Eelam” for the island’s ethnic Tamil minority.

The peace process was revived after Wickremesinghe was elected in December on promises to bring peace to Sri Lanka and jumpstart its troubled economy.

The ceasefire has largely held up, despite a series of incidents that have set alarm bells ringing.

The Scandinavian force monitoring the ceasefire said that on July 13 two of its members were briefly held against their will by the rebels after the observers were asked by the Sri Lankan navy to inspect a suspected Tiger boat.

The monitors denounced the Tigers’ “irresponsible behaviour” but said the rebels expressed regret during a meeting with the chief observer, retired Norwegian major general Trond Furuhovde.

And last week, a Sri Lankan soldier was killed by the Tigers after he crossed into rebel territory and opened fire on LTTE cadres. The government played down the incident and the monitors said the soldier was motivated by “unknown personal reasons.”

But the two sides have also reopened two key highways under the ceasefire and Wickremesinghe in March became the first Sri Lankan leader in two decades to visit the embattled northern peninsula of Jaffna, a Tiger stronghold.

The meeting in London, a large base for expatriate Tamils, came as Wickremesinghe wins increasing international support for the peace drive.—AFP