The Sri Lankan Government believes there must "be a negotiated settlement... some sort of power sharing" deal with the rebels, Kumaratunga said in an interview on state-run television yesterday.

"At present the LTTE is finding various excuses not to come for peace talks. The necessary environment needed for the resumption of talks has been created," she said. "Therefore, I request the LTTE to inform the government, within this month that is November, if they are ready to commence peace talks."

She did not say what action her government would take if the Tigers did not respond to her two-week deadline.

Kumaratunga said the LTTE had been changing its stance on resuming peace talks and seemed uninterested in getting to the table. The rebels had said there would be no point negotiating with her because her term was due to end soon.

"You are dealing with a government, not an individual," Kumaratunga said, adding "they still don't the difference between a government and a terrorist movement."

Norway's attempts last week to jumpstart the peace talks ended in failure despite a high-level visit by Foreign Minister Jan Petersen and two other top peace envoys who shuttled between the rebels and the Colombo government.

Despite the failure to revive negotiations, both sides pledged in talks with the Norwegians that they will abide by the ceasefire agreement.

Kumaratunga also denied the the LTTE charge that her Marxist-backed coalition was not speaking with one voice.

"That is not true," Kumaratunga said. Her main Marxist ally, the JVP, or People's Liberation Front was willing to go along with a consensus that would emerge from the discussions with the rebels, she said.

The JVP is opposed to devolution of power advocated by Kumaratunga and instead wants "de-centralisation" of the administration to smaller territorial units than what is demanded by the Tigers.

The LTTE made it clear to the Norwegians last week that they want their proposal taken up at talks and rejected Kumaratunga's suggestion to link the self-rule proposals to a final settlement.

The rebels and the Colombo government held six rounds of face-to-face negotiations between September 2002 and March 2003 before the talks stalled.

Four previous attempts to end the fighting ended in failure and led to more bloodshed.

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