06 February, 2006 - Published 16:32 GMT

Talks on CFA anniversary

The Royal Norwegian government has announced the dates for talks between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers.

The talks aimed at saving the four-year-old Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), signed on 22 February 2002, are to be held in Geneva on 22-23 February.

The date was agreed at a meeting in London between Norwegian International Development Minister, Erik Solheim, and the chief negotiator for the Tamil Tigers, Anton Balasingham.

A spokesman at the Norwegian embassy in London said further details would be announced soon.

The truce between the Tigers and the Sri Lankan government has come under pressure recently, with a sharp increase in violence in the Tamil areas of the north and the east.

Two parties agreed to hold talks after the visit by Minister Solheim in January.

The Tigers raised concerns after ten aid workers of Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which has close links with the LTTE, were allegedly abducted in recent weeks.

But the government denied the accusation by the TRO that paramilitaries linked to Sri Lanka military were behind the abductions.