New Delhi, January 12: The NSCN(IM) said on Sunday it was satisfied with the first round of talks with the Indian government to end more than half a century of a separatist revolt in the country's remote northeast.

A spokesman for the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, NSCN (I-M), seeking an independent homeland in Nagaland, said the talks had raised hopes of a settlement.

The group's chairman Isak Chisi Swu and General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, who have been abroad for decades, flew into New Delhi this week to hold talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes.

"Things are going satisfactorily at this stage," Colonel Phungthing Shimrang, a spokesman for the group said.

"Going by the PM's sincerity and receptivity, we are optimistic that some substantive solution will be arrived at".

More talks are scheduled for Monday.

Both sides have been tightlipped over what exactly has been discussed.

Indian newspapers reported there had been an easing of the group's demand for secession, but it was unclear to what extent.

India's mountainous northeast, which borders China, Myanmar and Bangladesh, is home to about 200 ethnic groups and has been plagued by revolts since India won independence from Britain in 1947.Rebels accuse the central government of looting the region's rich mineral resources and neglecting the local economy.

New Delhi is hoping that a negotiated settlement with the NSCN (I-M) could lay the ground for truce with the other guerrilla organizations.

"We have to tell you that there will be no more fighting between the Indians and the Nagas," Swu said on Saturday after meeting Defence Minister George Fernandes.

"That is the understanding we have reached now".

The Indian government and the NSCN (1-M) declared a ceasefire in August 1997 and it has held since then.

In November, the federal government lifted a 12-year-ban on the guerrilla group to allow its leaders to hold talks in the Indian capital.

"The talks are proceeding in the right direction.

The government is positive.

I am very optimistic about the talks," Swaraj Kaushal, a former central government emissary said after he met the rebel leaders.

He gave no details.

Yesterday on a significant statement in the midst of Naga peace talks, the NSCN (I-M) leaders said on Saturday hat there would be no more fighting between, Indians and Nagas.

"I want to tell you that there will be no more fighting between Indians and Nagas.

That is the understanding we have reached now," NSCN (I-M) Chairman Isak Chisi Swu told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Defence Minister George Fernandes.

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