Talks called by peace broker Norway to discuss Sri Lanka's faltering ceasefire failed to take off as planned on Thursday as Tamil Tigers staged a lightening boycott, the government said.
The government said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam refused to meet with them to discuss the safety of Nordic truce monitors. The Tigers had argued that the government delegation was too junior and had no politician to give it authority.
'The Sri Lankan delegation was informed by the Norwegians that the LTTE had declined to meet the Government of Sri Lanka delegation,' the statement said.
'The Norwegian government representatives themselves expressed complete surprise at the stance taken by the LTTE despite all the background preparations made by the Norwegian facilitators,' it said.
The Norwegians also informed Colombo that the Tigers were opposed to nationals from Sweden, Denmark and Finland all European Union member states -- monitoring Sri Lanka's ceasefire following last week's EU ban on the rebels.
Colombo rejected the Tiger stand and said the rebels traveled to Oslo fully aware of the Sri Lankan delegation, named last week.
'The LTTE left Sri Lanka bound for Oslo having full knowledge of this position,' the government statement said.
There was no immediate reaction from the Tigers. Diplomatic sources said that the Norwegians were trying to bring the Tigers back to the table and was hoping that they could have the talks on Friday, what should have been the second and last day of the talks.