Lanka peace hopes dim

Oslo's efforts were complicated by a looming European Union ban on the Tamil Tiger rebels, who threatened to respond by scrapping the truce that has been marred in recent months by dozens of deadly attacks on soldiers, rebels and civilians.

At the weekend Norway failed to persuade the Tigers to return to Switzerland to hold another round of talks with the Sri Lankan government on saving the ceasefire in place since 2002. An offer Saturday of an alternative venue in Oslo has also not been taken up, said officials on condition of anonymity.

Diplomats said Norway's invitation to the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to come to Oslo for a two-day face-to-face meeting appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to halt a return to war.

"But the signals so far are that neither party wants to make a commitment to go to Oslo for a meeting starting June 8," a diplomatic source close to the process told AFP. "The Tigers are waiting for an EU statement."

The European Union is expected to place the LTTE on its list of terrorist groups on Monday, a spokesman for the EU's Austrian presidency said Saturday.

The move against the Tigers, agreed in principle on May 18, is on the agenda of a meeting of the bloc's ministers in Brussels.

It means that the assets of the LTTE will be frozen but more importantly it will cut off vital funds for the rebels from members of the Tamil diaspora in Europe.

At home, the Tigers have been warning that the Norwegian-led and internationally-backed peace effort may be drawing to a close.

The LTTE's political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan told a Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer Saturday that Oslo must ensure justice for the Tamil side and try to block the EU ban.

"Liberation Tigers will be forced to reconsider the relevance of the ceasefire agreement (CFA) to the peace process, and LTTE's commitment and adherence to the CFA, if the EU carries out its threat of proscribing the LTTE," Thamilselvan told reporters.

Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim, who held talks with Sri Lankan leaders on Friday, warned that the island could be slipping back to full-scale war.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan authorities yesterday found the mutilated bodies of seven local tourists believed to have been killed by an explosion in a wildlife sanctuary near a conflict zone, police said.

Five of the bodies could be identified -- two women and three men -- while the remains of two others were mutilated beyond recognition after the blast at the Wilpattu national park, military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said.

"There were three simultaneous explosions that left only the chassis of their four-wheel drive vehicle," Samarasinghe said adding that officials blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the killing.