COLOMBO (AFP) -- Sri Lanka will adopt a step-by-step approach to peace with Tamil Tiger rebels and try to strengthen the cease-fire in a new round of talks next month, President Mahinda Rajapakse told AFP on Tuesday.

"The most important thing is to stop violence," he said in his first interview since Colombo and the guerrillas agreed last week to hold a face-to-face meeting in Geneva. "If we can stop the violence," then the peace negotiations can go on further, he said in his office. "It will be step by step."

More than 150 people have been killed since Rajapakse won November elections promising a new peace process.

Norway brokered the deal between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government to hold direct negotiations for the first time in three years.

But the talks in Geneva are limited to ending the bloodshed in the troubled northeastern regions and fully implementing the cease-fire which came into force in February 2002.

"What we need is some peace ... a peaceful environment, especially in the north and northeast," for the talks to prosper, the president said. "If there are no killings then we can concentrate on the development of the area. People will have a better environment to live (in)."

The LTTE has promised to halt violence, but warned that government forces must also hold their fire and rein in anti-LTTE paramilitaries to build an atmosphere conducive to peace.

Sri Lanka had not finalized its delegation to the negotiations due in February, the president said, but it would not include "foreign advisers" as during several previous rounds of talks.

"The next step is to finalize the date (for talks) which should be between the middle and end of February," he said. "They (delegations) will discuss about the ceasefire ... The first round will be that (only ceasefire). Then of course we will see how it develops and go to the next round."

Four previous attempts to negotiate a permanent peace in a conflict that has left more than 60,000 people dead have failed.

The nationalist government, which relies on the support of hardline Sinhalese parties, demands that Sri Lanka remains a unitary state -- including the north and east where the Tamil minority lives.

The LTTE, which already boasts a de facto mini-state in the north with its own administration, police, courts and military, is fighting for full autonomy and seeks an immediate Interim Self-Governing Authority.

Rajapakse declined to give a timeframe to reach a final peace settlement, but said he remained optimistic a deal could be struck with the LTTE.

"They have come to the talks. We have to see what is their approach ... a reasonable approach," he explained.

The president bristled at "peace hawk" and "hardliner" tags he carried before his election, insisting "they do not even know me".

His government however does rely on the support of the Marxist JVP and the Buddhist-nationalist JHU who strongly oppose any concessions to the LTTE.

Rajapakse said both parties harbor reservations about peace-broker Norway and the process itself, but had so far made no public protest to try to scuttle his efforts. "Every step we will be keeping them informed. They are supporting peace. My success has been to keep them on board, so far."

Since the agreement last Wednesday to hold talks in Switzerland, the level of violence has dropped sharply in Sri Lanka, defence officials say.

However, the LTTE has accused security forces of continuing to harass Tamil civilians.