CALLING TRUCE: Balasingham (left) with Peiris in Thailand

For the first time since engaging in a Norwegian peace initiative to end the island's bloody ethnic conflict, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last week unequivocally distanced itself from its secessionist battle cry, providing an opening for the Government to push ahead with making peace. After three days of landmark talks with Sri Lankan negotiators on neutral ground in Thailand, the Tigers explicitly said they had abandoned their demand for a separate state and were seeking regional autonomy and self-determination instead.

Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator for the LTTE, said the group was no longer insisting on carving out an independent Tamil Eelam in the north and east. "We don't operate with a concept of 'Eelam'. Our demand for a homeland is not a demand for a separate state," Balasingham told reporters at the Thai resort city of Sattahip where the closed-door talks were held. But, he added, the long and bloody war that has taken a toll of 60,000 people would be resumed as "a last resort" if control of the region is not given to the Tamils.

Despite Balasingham ruling out the disarming of the guerrilla force-now estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000-until a permanent settlement is reached, analysts saw the LTTE's new anti-separatist line as bolstering the peace bid, coming after four abortive bids since 1985. Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, who led the Government delegation, took the LTTE's statement as an encouraging sign and commitment to stay at the negotiating table. "These aspirations (regional autonomy and self-determination) can be achieved within one country if we set about the negotiations correctly," he said.

The LTTE's changed stance could also help convince hardline Sinhalese nationalists and the island's powerful Buddhist clergy who fear disintegration of the nation into separate ethnic entities. It should also sway President Chandrika Kumaratunga who lambasted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the eve of the Thai talks for negotiating with the rebels before they gave up separatism. Balasingham took pains to placate the island's other key minority community, the Tamil-speaking Muslims who largely occupy the disputed eastern province where simmering tension erupted in race riots in July.

The two sides agreed to three more rounds of talks here between October and January to discuss arrangements for an interim administration and rehabilitation, also deciding on a joint task force to monitor and implement humanitarian work and mine clearing in areas controlled by them in the north-east. For its part, India is happy with the direction the talks have taken. A workable autonomy for Tamils that could end the strife is what it had been pushing for.

Diplomats expect thorny issues that will try the negotiating skills of the parties involved to crop up at future encounters . As Jon Westborg, Norway's ambassador in Colombo, says, "This is only the end of the beginning. The first round is just the 'getting to know you' part."

-Christine Jayasinghe in Colombo