President meets opposition leader

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2004, 15:13 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday urged opposition leader, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe to participate in the all party parley to find a solution to end the island's ethnic conflict. Mr. Wickremesinghe and President Kumaratunga met in Colombo for discussions on Tuesday. All the main opposition parties, including the Tamil National Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress are boycotting the NACPR, charging that it is a time buying ruse by President Kumaratunga.

Full text of the news release by the Presidential Secretariat:

President meets opposition leader

The Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe called on President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday morning and the President briefed him on the proceedings of the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR) held yesterday (Monday)and on plans for future meetings of the Council.

The President emphasized the importance of the UNP’s participation in the Council and requested Wickremesinghe to reconsider the party’s decision of the participation at NACPR.

The opposition leader drew particular attention to the UNP statement on its position regarding the Oslo Declaration and communiqué and the Tokyo Declaration and emphasized the urgent need of early resumption of peace talks on the basis stated by the UNP. He reiterated that there was “a clear agreement between the government and the LTTE to explore a federal solution as the basis of a political resolution of the ethnic conflict”.

The discussions were informative and constructive and covered number of matters relating to the peace process. The President and the opposition leader agreed that they would continue to meet from time to time.

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was also present at the discussion.