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<span style='color:red'>Sri Lanka Wins Norwegian Promise to Help Peace Talks

By Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) -

[size=14]Sri Lanka took a step toward new peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday by winning a promise from Norway to resume its role as mediator in the 20-year civil war.

Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said he had agreed to a request by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga for Oslo to resume the role it suspended in November because of a power struggle in Colombo that has been resolved by April 2 elections.

"I said that Norway was willing to comply, on condition that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) also ask us to play a role," Bondevik said in a statement after Kumaratunga telephoned him late on Thursday.

Diplomats said the rebels, who had criticized Kumaratunga for breaking off the talks, seemed sure to accept the new bid for ending a conflict in which 64,000 people have died.

A cease-fire has been holding despite the break.

New Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn into office on Tuesday and said Kumaratunga, who is elected separately from the government, was now in charge of reviving the talks.

Kumaratunga had accused former Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of endangering national security by making too many concessions to the rebels. She has also sometimes accused Norway of pro-rebel bias.

UNCLEAR WHEN TALKS TO START

It was unclear when the talks might resume. Direct talks with the rebels, who control large part of the island's north and east, broke down a year ago.

"We must first get a request from the Tamil Tigers. If that comes, and we hope it will, we will consult both sides about how the process can be brought forward," Bondevik told Norwegian NRK public radio.

In Colombo, Harim Peiris, a spokesman for Kumaratunga, said: "We have invited the facilitators (Norway) to recommence the process... But I don't want to be predicting the future."
Norway's peace team pulled out of the Indian Ocean island in November, saying that Colombo first had to decide whether the president or prime minister was in charge of the peace process.
Peiris said that past criticisms of Norway did not invalidate its overall role.

"The criticism of Norway's actions have been where they've moved beyond their role as facilitator and been quite unacceptable and even in breach of international law," he said. "Where the political parties have been critical it has been on quite specific matters."

Norway, home to the Nobel Peace Prize, also has a role in helping peace talks between the Philippines government and Communist rebels. It also hosted secret 1993 talks between Israelis and Palestinians that led to the now failed Oslo peace accords. </span>Reuters