Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 24, 2002
Sri Lankan PM Briefs President on Peace Process
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has briefed President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the current Norwegian-brokered peace process, government officials said on Thursday.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has briefed President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the current Norwegian-brokered peace process, government officials said on Thursday.
The president has asked the prime minister to get the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to discuss core issues rather than the establishment of an interim administration in the north and east of the country during the upcoming peace talks expected to be held in Thailand in June.
Kumaratunga made the request when Wickremesinghe briefed her oncurrent peace process for about 90 minutes on Wednesday, the officials said.
The meeting between the two leaders came when Wickremesinghe planned to visit Europe and India next month ahead of the peace talks in Thailand during which he will seek international support for peace in the country.
The LTTE rebels insist that the government ban put on them should be lifted before the talks start and that the talks should focus on the interim administration issue.
The government has faced strong challenge from the opposition over the two issues. The opposition charges that the an interim administration in the north and east is a de facto independent Tamil state which the rebels have been fighting for since 1983.