<b>Sri Lanka says peace holding despite bitterness between rebels, truce monitors </b>

SHIMALI SENANAYAKE, Associated Press Writer

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Recent bitterness between Tamil Tiger rebels and European truce monitors has not affected the peace process aimed at ending 19 years of separatist violence in Sri Lanka, the government said Thursday.

The government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam signed a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in February to end the insurgency that has killed more than 64,500 people. But the rebels allegedly detained two monitors on a boat this month, raising concerns about whether the cease-fire would hold.

"The government has taken up the issue with the LTT and the Norwegian government," Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris told reporters. "There is no intention to re-negotiate the agreement. It is a concluded one and we will continue implementing it."

Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen met the rebels' chief negotiator Anton Balasingham in London on Monday "with the view to lay a solid foundation for the talks," Peiris said.

Peace talks, initially planned for May, are now expected in August in Thailand. Peiris said Thursday that a date has not been fixed.

Meanwhile, truce monitors said they were discussing how they should continue their monitoring work at sea.

Two monitors — a Danish woman and a Norwegian man — said they were detained in a rebel fishing boat at the weekend after they recommended that the Sri Lankan navy take the vessel into custody after finding communication equipment on board. The rebels' vessel sped off with the monitors on board. They were released on shore the same day.

The monitors "were slightly bruised in the incident and are now in Colombo," said Norway's Hagrup Haukland, the monitors' deputy head.

The Tigers had denied forcibly holding the monitors, and said they should be allowed to move in northeastern coastal areas under their control.

Sri Lankan navy commander Adm. Daya Sandagiri told The Associated Press that the most serious truce violations were likely to occur at sea, as there was no clear line separating government and rebel territories.

The government has accused the rebels, who have their own navy, of using fishing vessels to smuggle arms and ammunition.

"The only legitimate force for moving in Sri Lankan waters is the Sri Lankan navy," Sandagiri said.

The rebels, fighting for a separate homeland for the island's 3.2 million ethnic Tamils, say they are discriminated against by the Sinhalese majority of 14 million.