Leaders of the dominant faction of the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) are leaving India after deciding to hold future talks with the Indian government abroad.

The NSCN-IM led by Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu came to India in December at the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for furthering peace talks.

The two self-exiled leaders have been operating out of Southeast Asian cities for the past 38 years.

The NSCN-IM is seeking an independent homeland for Nagas. Indian officials say NSCN was ready to sign a peace deal with New Delhi if it was given a "Greater Nagaland", comprising Naga-populated areas of the northeast.

"It has been decided that further talks will be held in a third country. Our leaders are leaving India soon after they finish the ongoing talks with the Indian government," senior NSCN-IM leader R.H. Raising told IANS Sunday here in Nagaland.

Muivah is scheduled to leave for Amsterdam next week. Swu left India in February citing poor health. Another NSCN leader, Anthony Shimray, left for Bangkok Saturday.

"If the situation demands, our leaders can come back to India for talks, but we would prefer the negotiations in a neutral venue," Raising said.

The NSCN, the oldest and the most powerful of around 30 rebel groups in the northeast, wants a "Greater Nagaland" by slicing off parts of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh that have a  sizeable Naga tribal population.

The governments of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have already rejected the NSCN demand for unification of Naga-dominated areas.

"The progress of the talks has been slow, but we have made our point clear to New Delhi that there cannot be any solution without the unification of the Naga inhabited areas," Raising said.

"The ball is now in the Indian government's court. The progress of the talks has been slow but we are still hopeful of a solution."

The NSCN and the Indian government entered into a ceasefire in August 1997. The ceasefire expires July 31.

"The ceasefire will be extended to enable the talks to continue. We are committed to peace but it all depends on the attitude of the Indian government," Raising said.

Nagaland, where more than 25,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency since India's independence 1947, is a Christian-majority state of two million.