A top Norwegian peace envoy says efforts to end Sri Lanka's 18-year civil war are making -- in his words -- "amazing" progress. 

Oslo's deputy foreign minister Vidar Helgesen told reporters in Colombo Saturday that preparations for face-to-face talks in Thailand in June are moving more quickly than expected. Mr. Helgesen says he is upbeat after recent meetings with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on setting an agenda for the talks. 

Reuters quotes the Norwegian diplomat as expressing concern that perhaps the Sri Lankan peace process is moving too fast. The news agency quotes him as saying the primary concern is about quality, not speed. Mr. Helgesen also is quoted as saying the government and Tamil rebels need time for decisions to filter down to local officials and troops. The two sides signed an agreement in February to lay down their weapons and undertake a series of confidence-building measures. 

Meanwhile, a group of 26 U.S. -trained experts has arrived in Sri Lanka from Mozambique to speed up the clearing of mines and other explosive ammunition littering the country's northeast. The team will use four specially-trained dogs to uncover weapons mainly on the northern Jaffna peninsula, some 400 kilometers north of the capital. 

More than 60,000 people have been killed since Tamil rebels launched a bloody campaign for a separate homeland in 1983. The government says it will not divide the small, island nation, but is willing to grant greater political autonomy in Tamil majority areas. 

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. 

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