By John Acher

OSLO, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Norway said on Tuesday it stood ready at any time to facilitate talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels to help end more than two decades of civil war.

"We are ready as soon as they are ready, but there is no way we can impose any peace in Sri Lanka. We are available and ready (to help)," Norwegian Development Aid Minister Erik Solheim told foreign correspondents at a briefing in the Norwegian capital.

Solheim, who brokered a 2002 ceasefire that now lies in tatters, said the parties to the conflict would eventually return to the negotiating table and he was willing to travel to Sri Lanka once there was a chance it would help.

The truce has been buried by resurgent violence in the Indian Ocean island where about 70,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since war broke out in 1983.

The Sri Lankan military earlier on Tuesday claimed a major victory for its navy in sinking rebel vessels carrying arms.

"We are in touch with the president and his people and with the Tamil Tigers on a more or less daily basis," Solheim said.

Solheim said he may meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in "the near future" to see if there were any peace initiatives that could be pursued.

He said direct contacts with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been rare recently because of the war. "But we are talking to them on the phone all the time."

"I am ready to go there (to Sri Lanka) at any time when it may be of benefit to the peace process," Solheim said.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton; reporting by John Acher; Reuters Messaging: rm://john.acher.reuters.com@reuters.net. Email:john.acher@reuters.com, +47 22 93 69 76))

AlertNet news is provided by