Peace takes back seat to power

2003-11-10 11:42

Colombo - Peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels have been postponed until the political crisis in Sri Lanka is resolved, the government's chief peace negotiator GL Peiris said Monday.

"Given everything that has happened in the past few days, it is logical to assume that we have to resolve the threshold issue before anything else," Peiris said.

He was referring to the power struggle between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Peiris insisted the government could not pursue the Norwegian-backed peace process with the rebels with the president holding the defence, interior and information portfolios, which she wrested from the government last week.

Norwegian envoys are due to arrive in Sri Lanka on Monday night and had been expected to arrange a preliminary meeting between the government and the rebels either later this month or in early December.

Peiris said the government would have "a candid discussion" with the Norwegian special peace envoy Erik Solheim and Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen.

The government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been observing a ceasefire since February last year.

But peace talks have been stalled since April when the Tigers said they were pulling out saying the government had failed to deliver on promises made at previous rounds of talks.

Earlier this month, the rebels publicly unveiled their own power-sharing plan and said they were ending the boycott of talks.

But just a few days later Kumaratunga triggered a political crisis by sacking three ministers and suspending parliament for two weeks, while the prime minister was out of the country for talks with US President George W Bush on the peace process.

- AFP