Feud Between Sri Lanka's President, PM Endangers Peace Talks

Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
10 Nov 2003, 14:02 UTC

Sri Lankan officials say peace talks with Tamil rebels will be indefinitely
postponed until a political crisis gripping the country is resolved.

The government's chief peace negotiator, G.L. Peiris, says it will not be
possible to resume peace talks with Tamil rebels as long as President
Chandrika Kumaratunga controls the ministries of defense, internal security
and information.
AP
Chandrika
The president took charge of those portfolios last week and suspended Kumaratunga
parliament, undermining the government of Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe and triggering a power struggle. The president and the prime minister, who are
elected separately, belong to rival political parties.

The president accuses Mr. Wickremesinghe of endangering national

security by conceding too much to the rebels in peace talks so far. She says
the prime minister can continue to direct the peace process, but under her
guidance.

AP But the prime minister says he wants to hand over the running of the peace
Supporters of PM process to the president, since due to her actions he is no longer in full
Wickremesinghe hold control of the government.
up posters of him
from a bus window
The head of the independent Center for Policy Alternatives, Paikiasothy
Saravanamuttu, says the rivalry between the two officials will hamper efforts to solve the country's
two decade-long ethnic conflict.

"he peace process "needs the broadest possible support, and certainly the support of the two major
political parties," said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu. "Cooperation, collaboration between them is the
most desirable outcome. Therefore, in the absence of that the peace process, in terms of its
acceptability, its sustainability into the future will always be questioned."

Mr. Peiris, the government spokesman, says the recent events have placed the peace process at risk.
He says the government is prepared to face an early election to resolve the political impasse in the
country - although it is the president, not the prime minister, who has the power to dissolve
parliament and order elections.

Before the crisis erupted, the government had asked Norwegian mediators to arrange a face-to-face
meeting with the rebels later this month. The meeting was to pave the way for resuming the peace
talks that have been suspended for the past six months.

But the political crisis now threatens to set back these attempts to end the country's conflict, which
has cost tens of thousands of lives during the past 20 years.