Sri Lankan PM accuses President of jeopardizing peace process

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 12, 2004

Sri Lankan PM accuses President of jeopardizing peace process

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who heads a caretaker government said on Thursday that President Chandrika Kumaratunga is "seriously" jeopardizing the Norwegian-brokered peace process.

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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who heads a caretaker government said on Thursday that President Chandrika Kumaratunga is "seriously" jeopardizing the Norwegian-brokered peace process.

In a letter addressed to Kumaratunga, Wickremesinghe said that the president's action of dismissing his three key junior ministers without prior consultation with him on Wednesday will create serious difficulty in carrying forward the peace process and continuing the implementation of humanitarian assistance in the war-battered north and east.

"These are three key ministries providing urgent relief and humanitarian assistance and short-term rehabilitation activities for the people of the North-East," Wickremesinghe said.

He said that he had informed the Norwegian facilitator, the international community, the donors and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels that his caretaker government is only able to fulfill its obligations of undertaking confidence buildingmeasures rather than implementing humanitarian assistance work.

He also blamed the president for crippling the efforts of his government to fulfill its responsibilities under the ceasefire agreement he signed with the LTTE rebels in February 2002 by her dismissal of his junior ministers.

President Kumaratunga dissolved the parliament last Saturday and called a snap election scheduled for April 2, three months after she seized three key ministries including the defense from the Wickremesinghe government in November last year.

The president's decision of dissolving the parliament brought to an end to the ongoing efforts by the two sides trying to reach a compromise over the political standoff.

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