COLOMBO, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan government chief negotiator said Wednesday that this week's direct talks with the Tamil Tigers would be a difficult process but the government would be determined to make progress.

    Nimal Siripala De Silva who is also the Minister of Health told reporters prior to leaving for Geneva in the early hours of Wednesday "It will be a very difficult job when the two sides were engaged in military battles. We hope we will make the LTTE to have a change in attitude to continue with the peace process," De Silvasaid.

    He and the government delegation preceded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in taking the flight for Geneva for the talks on Oct. 28 and 29. The rebel delegation who were ferried in a government helicopter to the Colombo international airport from the rebel held Kilinochchi district on Tuesday took a flight which departed several hours later on Wednesday morning, officials said.

    The talks the first since the government and the LTTE became engaged in bitter military conflicts are seen as crucial for the future peace in this Indian ocean island.

    Over 2000 people have been killed in violence since the end of 2005 and over 200,000 people have been displaced since the military conflict escalated since the end of July.

    The rebels said they were going to Geneva in keeping with the wishes of the international community. The government officials said although no agenda had yet been fixed for the two-day meetingthe government would be looking forward to a serious commitment from the Tiger rebels on the Norwegian backed peace initiative.

    The rebels accuse the government of large scale human rights violations such as abductions and murder and also military action in violation of the February 2002 ceasefire accord.

    The government maintains they reserved the right to take defensive action against the rebels in order to safeguard national security interests.

    More than 64,000 people were killed between the mid 1980s and February 2002 when the Norwegians stepped in with their mediation effort to end one of the world's longest running armed conflicts.

    The LTTE on behalf of the minority Tamil community aims to set up a separate homeland in the north and east regions claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority.