COLOMBO Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland was due to arrive in Sri Lanka on Thursday in an effort to jump-start a stalled peace process between the government and separatist Tamil rebels.

"There will be a meeting between the Mr. Jagland and the president," Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim said from Oslo.

Solheim, who will accompany Jagland, has been shuttling between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and officials from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an effort to bring the two sides to the negotiating table to end nearly two decades of strife.

"This is part of our normal process to see both parties," said Solheim.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate Tamil state in the country's north and east. Some 64,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The two sides have been deadlocked recently over a demand by the rebels that a ban on the LTTE be lifted as a precondition to resuming peace talks.

The government has refused to lift the ban, calling it an unacceptable condition.

The impasse over the ban stalled a peace process that appeared to be coasting along a month ago as Norway pushed the two sides toward a negotiated settlement.

Solheim met a rebel negotiator in LTTE-controlled northern Sri Lanka last month, but said he would not be going there on this visit.

The LTTE depends on an extensive international fund-raising network and Sri Lanka has lobbied hard to have the group outlawed by foreign governments.

The rebel group has been outlawed in several countries, including the United States, Britain and neighboring India, Reuters said.