Discussions to work out a power-sharing arrangement for a long-term solution to the national question began yesterday with the opening of the Third Round of talks between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

The first and second round of talks held in Thailand had served to ease tensions and highlight issues of rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Negotiators purposely stayed away from the constitutional  tangle fearing the peace process would get bogged down in arguments over the framework of power sharing, as had previous efforts to make peace with the LTTE.

Therefore it was a surprise when at the end of the second round in Thailand an agreement to begin discussions on the political dimension was reached.

But last week’s dramatic developments where the LTTE said it was seeking “internal self-determination" within a united Sri Lanka in the annual “Heroes Day”  speech by supremeo Velupillai Prabhakaran has given a different complexion to the issue.

The statement confirmed by theoretician Anton Balasingham in an interview with our sister paper the Sunday Observer cemented the LTTE’s new policy that it does not want to create a separate state of Tamil Eelam.

This sets a framework for the negotiators to work on a final solution.

“It is now possible to begin the process of discussing a power-sharing agreement and the Political Affairs Committee will gain in importance,” the government’s chief Negotiator Minister Professor G.L. Peiris told the Daily News.

Further impetus has been added by the LTTE’s pledge given to the international community last week that it was committed to a negotiated political settlement.

The contentious issue of the LTTE police stations and courthouses will be taken up on the sidelines of the conference.

The government team has received instructions from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to emphasise that the matter of law enforcement infringes on sovereignty.

The talks opened yesterday afternoon at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in central Oslo where most of the delegates are staying.

The discussions will be spread over six sessions and will end with a press conference on December 5.

The urgent task at hand for the teams will be to finalise a plan to convert the 70 million US dollars pledged as emergency assistance at the donors meeting last week at the Holmenkollen Park Hotel in Oslo into a peace dividend.

They would have to identify and priorities projects and try to work out a mechanism through which the aid could flow.

Much of the aid is expected to come through International Non-Government Orgranisations and the United Nations with the government being the main implementation agency in most cases, sources close to the negotiations said.

Another task is to work on de-escalation of the conflict and normalisation.  This subject is in the hands of an 18-member committee with equal representation from the LTTE and the government and has already done substantial work in its meetings in Sri Lanka.  Defence Secretary Austin Fernando is leading the government team handling this issue and is expected to conduct a detailed review of the various points of tension on the ground between the Sri Lanka Armed forces and the LTTE’s fighting formations.

Minister Milinda Moragoda, Secretary Peace Secretariat Ambassador  Bernard Gunetilaka, Major-General Shantha Kottegoda assisted by number of officials including Consul-General Vipula Wanigasekara make up the government team.  Ports and Shipping Minister Rauff Hakeem who was a member of the original delegation left Oslo on Saturday evening for Sri Lanka to deal with an internal crisis in his party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

The LTTE is led by Balasingham and comprises Jay Maheswaran, Political Head S.P. Tamilselvam and military commander Karuna.

Meanwhile Ian Martin, the former Secretary-General of the Human Rights watchdog Amnesty International will shortly begin to act as a special envoy to monitor the rights dimension of the developments in Sri Lanka.

This development took place after Prof.  Peiris  had a meeting with Martin in London on Saturday.