By Zacki Jabbar

Peace talks between the government and LTTE will take place in Thailand during the week September 12 to 17 in Thailand, it was decided in Oslo on Wednesday.

Political sources said that this decision was taken following discussions between the Government and LTTE with the assistance of the Norwegian facilitators lasting over two hours in Oslo .

The sources said that the government delegation led by Economic Reforms Science and Technology Minister Milinda Moragoda and the LTTE’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham met over lunch to discuss the date and agenda for formal peace talks.

Among the issues that surfaced were the undesirability of using child soldiers, ceasefire violations, resettlement of refugees and the imposition of taxes on civilians by the LTTE.

The sources said that Balasingham had once again emphasised on the importance of setting up an Interim North-East administration without any further delay if the peace process was to progress.

The two sides also agreed to invite United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees Olara Otunu once again to examine the government complaint of LTTE conscripting child soldiers.

It was decided that the issue of LTTE imposing taxes on civilians could be discussed further when talks proper commenced in Thailand.

The resettlement of refugees displaced by the war and now scattered in various parts of the country was another issue that the two sides agreed should be sorted out at the Thailand talks.

Moragoda was assisted by the Director General of the Peace Secretariat Bernard Gunatilleke.

Among those who participated in the discussions were the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen,Special Envoy Erik Solheim,Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka John Westborg,head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Trond Furuhovde and a few other SLMM officials.

Wednesday’s meeting was the second between the two sides since the United National Front (UNF) government assumed power.

Moragoda as a special emissary of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe first met Balasingham in London about three weeks ago when the peace process appeared to be faltering following the abduction of two SLMM monitors by the LTTE.

The LTTE after this incident even called for the Norwegian facilitators to be sidelined and commencement of direct talks with the government.

However the Moragoda -Balasingham London meeting coupled with calls from Tamil parties to continue with Norwegian facilitation resulted in the LTTE changing its stance.