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The announcement came ahead of a key meeting between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her main coalition partner, which has threatened to withdraw from the government if such a body is formed.
The areas hit hardest by the December tsunami were in the country's northeast, some of which is controlled by the Tamil Tigers.
The Tigers have repeatedly demanded access to some of the US$2 billion (euro1.5 billion) in tsunami aid promised to Sri Lanka. But most international donors are reluctant to give funds directly to the rebels, which are considered terrorists by India, Britain and the United States.
The group will operate for one year, senior officials said on condition of anonymity, after which an extension could take place if both parties agree. It would deliver foreign aid to tsunami-affected areas two kilometers (1.2 miles) inland from the coastline in six districts in the north and east, they said.
President Kumaratunga is to meet on Friday with the Marxist People's Liberation Front, in a last-ditch effort to secure their support for the joint group, the officials said.
The Marxist party says the group would help the rebels attain their goal of a separate Tamil state, and has threatened to withdraw from the government if it is formed.
The Marxists hold 39 seats in the 225-member Parliament, and without their support the government might collapse.
The Dec. 26 tsunami killed at least 31,000 people in Sri Lanka and left nearly 1 million homeless.
The rebels began fighting in 1983 to carve out a separate state for the 3.2 million Tamil minority, claiming discrimination by the 14 million Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people died in the civil war before Norway brokered a cease-fire in 2002. Talks to forge a permanent peace deal broke down two years ago and efforts to restart negotiations have so far failed.
Sri Lanka probes claims of ethnic violence that triggered civil war
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The investigation comes nearly a year after the government agreed to pay about US$7 million in compensation to 939 victims of the anti-Tamil riots, following a recommendation from a three-member Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence.
There have since been 4,622 new applications for compensation, a statement from the commission said, adding that the new probe will ``ascertain the veracity of the claims made by these applicants.''
The amount of any compensation will depend on the degree of damage and nature of suffering, the commission said.
More than 800,000 Tamils fled to India and Western nations to escape the 1983 anti-Tamil riots, which erupted after a fledgling Tamil rebel group ambushed 13 soldiers.
Thousands of other Tamils joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, or Tamil Tigers, who launched a two-decade civil war to carve out an independent homeland for the Tamils, who claimed discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. Nearly 65,000 people died in the conflict.
Norway brokered a cease-fire in February 2002. The truce has largely held, but government-rebel peace talks broke down two year ago over disagreements about power-sharing arrangements, Efforts to restart negotiations have so far failed.
There are about 3.2 million ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, an Indian Ocean island nation of 18.6 million.
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