The government has drawn up a plan to resettle hundreds of thousands of people living in temporary shelters since the tsunami. But the UNHCR wants the government to simultaneously work for the resettlement of the civil war victims, most of whom are ethnic Tamils.

``This is a good opportunity and a logical one,'' said Kamel Morjane, assistant high commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who met Tamil Tiger rebel leaders Wednesday in the rebel capital of Kilinochchi.

Meanwhile, at a U.N. conference in Kobe, Japan, participating nations discussed proposals to field a network of detection buoys in the Indian Ocean to warn coastal residents of future tsunamis. Experts have said such a system could have saved thousands of lives.

Eventually, U.S. officials say a Pacific system already in place could also extend to the Mediterranean, Caribbean and other parts of the globe. A U.N. official, however, stressed that the United Nations, not the United States, would lead the effort.

Associated Press writers Mike Corder in Jakarta and Lely Djuhari and Brian Murphy in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Jasbant Singh in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dilip Ganguly in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Kenji Hall in Kobe, Japan, contributed to this report. Published: Thu Jan 20 13:21:27 EST 2005

The Norwegians, who brokered a February 2002 cease-fire that halted 19 years of warfare, were to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Friday. They began their talks Thursday by seeing Muslim leader Rauf Hakeem.

Before the tsunami, Sri Lanka - appeared to be drifting back to war, as the truce seemed increasingly fragile and hopes of reviving talks, stalled since April 2002, began to fade.

Asked about the collaboration between the government and the rebels in the relief effort, Helgesen said, ``I think there have been some positive signs,'' but declined to elaborate.

The government has said the disaster, which killed both minority Tamils and majority Sinhalese, has created a better atmosphere between the parties. At the same time, the rebels have complained about the slow movement of government aid to territory under their control.

The Norwegian delegation also includes special peace envoy Erik Solheim, Foreign Minister Jan Petersen and Development Minister Hilde F. Johnson.

London-based Anton Balasingham, the rebels' chief peace negotiator, also was expected to return to the island on Friday to join Prabhakaran, rebel officials said.

While playing down the importance of the talks to the peace process, Solheim met Wednesday with Jayantha Dhanapala, head of the government body handling the peace process, and Trond Furuhovde, the cease-fire monitoring chief.

Nearly 65,000 people were killed in the civil war before the truce. Published: Thu Jan 20 07:58:33 EST 2005