Sri Lanka's warring parties have agreed deals on human rights and a breakthrough on foreign funding but remain deadlocked on military issues.
At the fourth round of Norwegian-backed talks in Thailand, they invited the International Red Cross to help trace missing persons and asked the World Bank to manage the millions they will receive to rebuild the war-ravaged island.
The two sides also agreed on a map to resettle hundreds of thousands of people displaced by decades of fighting in the island's north-east.
However, the talks were overshadowed by disagreement over the question of winding down the separatist war which saw the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) withdraw from a crucial element of the peace process.
Earlier this week, the Tigers said they would not take part in the Sub Committee on De-escalation and Normalisation (SDN) after a government military commander asked them to lay down arms in exchange for a military scale-down.
"The parties did not reach agreement on the continuation of the work of the SDN," peace broker Norway said in a statement.
But Norway's deputy foreign minister, Mr Vidar Helgesen, who moderated the fourth round of talks held since September, said the talks showed the two parties were committed to overcoming their problems.
The two sides will meet again from February 7th to 10th. The following round will be held in Japan on March 18th to 21st. The venue for the next round from April 29th to May 2nd is to be decided.
Another round in June will be held to coincide with an international aid-pledging conference that Japan will host.
AFP