March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said they will take part in peace talks in Geneva next month that were threatened by an escalation of violence in the South Asian island nation.

``The agenda for the second round of talks will definitely be about disarming Tamil paramilitaries if the government fails to take action against them,'' Anton Balasingham, the Tamil Tigers chief negotiator at the peace talks, said yesterday in London, according to TamilNet.

Sri Lanka's Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, leading the government delegation, said yesterday the administration is committed to a negotiated settlement ``despite recent provocative action,'' Agence France-Presse reported from the capital, Colombo.

Sri Lanka's army and the LTTE have accused each other of escalating attacks since meeting in Geneva in February for their first discussions in three years. They agreed in the Swiss city to boost their 2002 cease-fire accord. Progress on a peace settlement is a condition set by international donors for Sri Lanka receiving $4.5 billion in aid.

The LTTE wants security guarantees for its negotiating team when it travels through Colombo for the Geneva talks scheduled for April 19-21, Balasingham said at a meeting yesterday with Erik Solheim, Norway's peace envoy.

Solheim said he will convey the concerns to the government when he visits Sri Lanka April 6 and meets President Mahinda Rajapakse, TamilNet reported. Jon Hanssen-Bauer, Norway's newly appointed special envoy for the peace process, is scheduled to begin a four-day visit to Sri Lanka April 3.

Process Stalled

Balasingham said the peace process won't move forward until paramilitaries are disarmed and their violent activities are brought to an end, the report said.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, consisting of five Nordic countries, said March 26 that the government and LTTE have shown a ``lack of commitment'' to the cease-fire agreement and that the violence threatens future peace negotiations.

The military blamed rebels for a March 25 suicide attack that destroyed a navy vessel near Mannar in the northwest, killing eight sailors. The LTTE denied carrying out the attack.

The rebels last week said Sri Lankan navy vessels shelled coastal villages in the northeastern Trincomalee district. Sri Lanka's military said rebels fired on its vessels and at an army post northeast of Jaffna.

An armed group operating with military backing attacked a rebel sentry point in the eastern district of Batticaloa on March 4, killing two rebels, S.P. Thamilchelvan, the LTTE's political leader, said March 5. The army last month said the rebels had built new bunkers in front of agreed defense lines.

Geneva Pledges

Both sides agreed in Geneva to take measures to prevent intimidation, acts of violence, abduction or killings. The government said it will ensure that no armed groups other than its security forces carry weapons while the Tamil Tigers pledged to take measures to stop attacks on the military and police.

The U.S., Norway, Japan and the European Union, which lead the group of donor nations, said last month the government and the Tamil Tigers should build on pledges to uphold their truce so that moves toward a peace settlement may begin.

Increasing violence in the north and east that began last December had threatened the truce. The government blamed rebels for attacks that killed more than 70 soldiers and sailors. Tamils said the army abducted and killed civilians. Attacks died down after the sides agreed in January to meet in Geneva.

The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland since 1983 in a conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people. The Tamil Tigers ended peace talks in April 2003 with the government of then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo, Sri Lanka at anushao@bloomberg.net; Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 29, 2006 18:34 EST