The Norwegian government will continue to facilitate peace process between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, the state radio said Sunday.

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation said Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik made the assurance when he met Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga in New York recently.

Norway has been facilitating direct talks between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government since the year of 2000 on Kumaratunga's invitation.

However, their role has come under intense criticism from Kumaratunga and her party, as well as other majority Sinhalese nationalist and political groups who accuse them of showing bias toward the Tigers.

Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike in late August charged that the Norwegians had misled the European Union about the Tigers.

The Norwegian facilitation has become an election issue in the current presidential election campaign in Sri Lanka.

The ruling party's presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse has entered electoral deals with the main left party the JVP and the all Buddhist monk party the JHU, who are vehement critics of Norway.

Both pacts call for reviewing of Norway's role.

Norway brokered six rounds of face to face talks between the government and the LTTE from September 2002 to April 2003 before talks came to be stalled.

Source: Xinhua