Chandrika urges Norway to revive talks with Tigers

President Chandrika Kumara-tunga invited Norway to resume its mediation shortly after her candidate for parliament speaker lost Thursday in a fiercely contested vote.

Minority Tamils and Muslims voted against her Freedom Alliance.

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Kumaratunga on Thursday invited Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik to help revive the talks with the Tamils which has been on hold since April last year.

She has in the past accused Norway of being biased towards the Tamil Tiger rebels who have led a three-decade campaign for a separate homeland.

"Given the political reality in parliament, she is trying to consolidate her position through the peace process," said Jayadeva Uyangoda, the head of the Colombo Unive-rsity's political science department.

Twenty-two members of parliament are proxies of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Tiger spokesman Daya Master told the pro-rebel Tamilnet website that the Tigers were awaiting a formal request from Norway to restart talks.

The LTTE suspended negotiations in April 2003 after six rounds of face-to-face talks with the former government of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.